Prodigal Son
by TheLostCanary
Summary: With a new issue coming soon, as I usually do, I am reissuing the most recent issue so that context is not lost. In This issue; Anna experiences a moment of sorrow from her past...the death of Duke Lavery and then...the arrival of Casey Rogers.
1. Prolog

**Prodigal Son #001**

In 1990, a unique traveler from very far away came to Port Charles (ABC-TV _General Hospital_ ) to save the world from the evil Cesar Faison. This traveler befriended a young Robin Scorpio, and eventually he won the heart, if only briefly, of Anna Devane.

Now, 27 years later, the continuation of that storyline brings another traveler to Port Charles.

The Prodigal son…


	2. The Sand Man

**Prodigal Son**

 **The Sand man**

 **Iraq…the city of Haditha**

The citizens of Haditha, a farming town located 150 miles northwest from Bagdad, scurried into their homes and closed their windows and doors; as best they could.

Once safe inside, the families huddled together in preparation of what was to come…a sandstorm.

Relentless sandstorms had been pummeling Haditha since ancient times, just as they did in the present time of 2017.

Thankfully, with the advent of the modern forms of construction, the damage was usually minor. But just as hurricanes could ravage the homes of modern America, the sandstorms of Iraq could sometimes be just as deadly.

As the storm passed, and homes shook, the frightened children hugged parents for protection, and assurance that all would be fine. All the parents could offer back was a smile, which hid their own fear.

One child, a boy who was ten years old and brave, decided he wanted to see the sandstorm with his own eyes. And, without being noticed by his mother, the young boy ran out from the blankets that covered them and over to the window and looked through the seam of the drapes.

His eyes beheld the violence of the storm, the whirling sand making it nearly impossible to see anything else but twisting tendrils of the storm.

But then, quite unexpectedly, the young boy's eyes saw something else; a flash of light.

And then, standing tall in the storm, was a man; a dark haired man. One second there was nothing there, then came the flash of light, and then the man stood there. The boy was in awe!

The boy shivered in fear as the man turned and faced the window, and then, he smiled at the boy.

The boy's mom came over to the window, and stood in awe, just as her boy was, looking at the stranger outside. And then, this man, this stranger who had appeared out of nowhere, turned and walked into the storm again…and…was gone.

The Prodigal Son had arrived…and now…he had a mission. And that mission was to find his mother.

Continued…


	3. Outside of Me

**Prodigal Son**

 **Outside of Me**

 **The home of Anna Devane**

A thunderstorm had ravaged the city of Port Charles throughout the day, and was continuing into the night as if it were a column of marching soldiers sweeping over the horizon. The rain was powerful and windswept, the howling cries of the gusts sounding like packs of wolves in the distance as they found their prey.

But through all of it, Anna Devane was sound asleep in her bed, and was oblivious to the bright flashes of lightning outside the draped window, and also unawaken by the loud claps of thunder.

Lost inside her mind, Anna found herself beyond the confines of a dream, and the tunneled kaleidoscope of vision. She didn't see complex constructs of linear logic, but instead she saw swirls of emotionality and felt joy in her heart and soul.

And then, suddenly, she opened her eyes, or did she? Because although she was inside her room, she wasn't inside of her body. She could see herself sleeping contently, covered by her blankets, which guarded her like a womb. Was she dreaming of herself, or was it something more; was she existing outside of her body, as if an astral projection of her soul, her very essence.

"Anna," a voice whispered.

Looking away from her physical body on the bed, Anna searched the room to find the origin of the whisper.

"Anna," came the voice again; a man's voice.

Although she could hear the voice, she could not see where the voice had come from.

"The shadows are coming," the voice continued to say. "You must find the light before the shadows find you. They are looking for you Anna…they are looking for the both of you."

Anna looked down on her body again, but saw that instead of peaceful sleep, she was twisting about on the bed. It had become a restless sleep, and she wanted to wake.

And then she felt herself falling, as if she were a leaf in the wind, blown in not one or two, but dozens of directions, without reason or rhyme but yet somehow laced with destiny.

And then, she was back inside of her skin and opened her eyes. She closed them and found sleep again…but the shadows were close…very close.


	4. Seven Days until Now

**Prodigal Son**

 **Seven Days until Now**

 _One week has passed since the last issue_ …

An airliner zoomed through the night time sky, on its way to the United States. The evening dinner service, an unrecognizable chicken dish, had just been served and now the more anticipated service, a round of free alcoholic drinks, were being served.

Sitting together in the first class section were Robert Scorpio and Anna Devane. And while Anna was in deep thought, Robert was licking his chops, anxiously awaiting his glass of bourbon.

"Calm down," Anna said to Robert, as she saw him ogling the attractive flight attendant making her way down the aisle with drink tray. "You and Luke Spencer still act like teenage boys. The world is all bourbon and women," Anna said with a dismissive humorous tone in her voice.

Robert smiled at Anna, and nodded his head.

"True," Robert admitted, "but hey," he added with his crisp Australian accent, "I won't touch; how's that?"

Anna smiled back at her roughish ex-husband. But she had to give him credit for accompanying her to Scotland to lay a reef at Duke Lavery's grave.

It had been one year since Duke had been murdered by Carlos Rivera, and when Anna told Robert she wanted to visit Duke's grave, Robert, who had been on a WSB assignment, dropped what he was doing and met her in Scotland to lay the reef, and was now flying back with her to America.

"I want to thank you," Anna said to Robert. "You could have bombarded me with I told you so this entire time, and I wouldn't have blamed you."

Robert Scorpio had always predicted that Duke's end would come via the mob, be it by nefarious or, in Duke's case, a legitimate attempt to shine the light on the underworld. But in any event, his demise came after Julian Jerome put a hit out on Duke, and it came to be.

Robert nodded his head, and as he began to talk to Anna about Duke, something strange began to happen; she couldn't hear Robert's words, or for that matter, anything else. The sounds of the airliner were quieted, the movie that was showing on the screen at the head of the cabin was muted, everything; it was as if she had lost her hearing.

It had only been a week since she had the strange dream while sleeping in her own bed. It was a dream that she had spent the last seven days analyzing.

Anna watched Robert's lips move, as he spoke, and then everything went, visually, went faded into darkness. And if her soul were a barometer to sense evil, she began to feel its presence.

Continued…next time…Evil arrives at 37000 feet!


	5. Counter Balance

**Prodigal Son**

 **Counter Balance**

* * *

 **Sweden…2am**

 **Steinmauer M** **aximum S** **ecurity P** **rison...**

Cesar Faison opened his eyes. Not because he wanted to leave the dreams inside his demented mind, or because he was hungry or thirsty. He opened them because…he was forced to.

Because Cesar Faison was a notorious criminal, he was kept in his own cell, away from the other criminals that were housed by the prison; so weary was the warden that Faison would corrupt the minds of the others.

There were no sounds to be heard, due to the fact that at 2am, it was mandatory that all inmates were in their bunks and all lights were dimmed to their lowest setting. As Cesar stared at the unseen ceiling in his prison cell, he felt a strange sensation inside his mind; as if there was something pinching his thoughts. And although he knew it was impossible, he felt as if his brain was becoming ravaged by a cauldron of fire inside his skull.

It was at that moment when his eyes began to see strange swirls of light. He knew it was all inside of his mind, so he believed himself to be having some sort of mental breakdown, maybe even a stroke of some sort, maybe an aneurism.

And then, all of a sudden, he felt himself falling through the darkness. Since he had no idea what was happening to him, Cesar just took it all in. If he was indeed facing his death, due to stroke or some other reason, he wanted to experience it to the very end.

And then, just as the strange feeling inside his mind had appeared, as well as the swirling tendrils of energy and the burning sensation in his brain had each started as swiftly; it all stopped.

Cesar Faison felt the cold sensation of pavement about his body; he deduced he must have fainted due to some psychotic break inside of his mind.

But as he looked about his surroundings, he realized he was no longer in his prison cell in Sweden. But that didn't mean he didn't where he was; because he knew exactly where he was.

The catacombs on Spoon Island.


	6. Someone Knows

**Prodigal Son**

 **Someone Knows**

 **CIA HEADQUARETERS in Langley Virginia**

Colonel Anthony (played by Lawrence Fishburne) Davis of the US Army hated his current assignment, and why not. Whereas his peers were racking up ribbons for their dress uniforms while fighting the war on terror in the middle- east, he was assigned to a division of the CIA.

The people below him did their jobs well, and reported to him with efficiency, but the thrill just wasn't there.

The division he ran had an interesting title; Unattributed and Unaccounted Operations (UUO). The main duty of the UUO was to explain the occasional malfunction of tech weapons, such as drones and missiles.

Generally the malfunctions were software issues, but sometimes, there could be foreign hacking involved. Once that was determined, then new software would be designed.

But occasionally there were instances that couldn't be explained and were flagged for further investigation. But those were few and far between.

Col. Davis was reading the morning reports when, without knocking, Captain Karen Denning rushed in. If Col. Davis could use one word to describe Captain Karen (played by Felicia Jones) Denning it would be perky. Because the UUO was a joint operation, there were officers from the different military branches, in this case, Captain Denning was from the Navy.

She was the one person who worked at the UUO who actually had enthusiasm, ever looking for the strange malfunctions and trying to explain and correct them.

Had Col. Davis been single, and twenty-years younger, he might have tried to court the young lady, because not only was she enthusiastic about her job, she was quite attractive, with an alluring naïveté in her demeanor.

"Captain Denning," Col. Davis said to the obviously excited woman, "we still knock before entering offices here at the UUO."

This was only about the hundredth time he had told her that; but, it was all part of her charm.

And as she spoke her words, Col. Davis silently mouthed them, already knowing what they would be.

"I know sir, but I think I have something," is what Karen Denning said to her commanding officer, all the while watching him mouth them as well.

"Captain," Col. Davis said to her, "you say that every time you burst into my office." He sighed. "Alright, what is it this time?"

The video Captain Denning shared was the typical footage of two missiles being launched from F-18 fighter jets, filmed by another missile, at targets on the ground. But as the missiles approached their target, one of them veered off the screen.

"Where did it go?" Col. Davis asked Capt. Denning.

She smiled at the Col, because she knew he was interested as well.

"That's the strange part," Capt. Denning replied. "The footage we will next see comes from the nose of that errant missile. And I warn you sir, it will be quite perplexing."

Col. Davis sat back in his chair and watched as the screen on his wall showed the footage recorded from the nose of the missile. And what is showed was indeed quite interesting. Denning slowed the footage down so he could see it clearly.

Because the footage was in hi-def, it was very crisp in detail. As the missile closed in on the target, it was clear it wasn't hurling toward the usual building or truck filled with bazooka wielding terrorists. Instead, it was aimed at a man cradling the body of a little girl, no doubt accidentally injured from an earlier attack.

Then is showed the man looking away from the injured child, and directly at the approaching missile and then, suddenly, both he and the little girl were surrounded by a bluish field of energy and then…they vanished.

And then the missile struck the ground and exploded.

"Sir," Denning said, "look at the tactical information to the side of the screen when I play the footage back."

Col. Davis did as Capt. Denning asked, this time not watching the footage, but instead, the tactical read out on the right hand side of the screen. The data he was reading came from the missile as well but instead of usual telemetry readings, it displayed two simple words; Chrono particles.

"Chrono particles," Col. Davis read out loud. "What the heck are those?"

The footage ended and Capt. Denning looked at Col. Davis.

"I have no idea what Chrono Particles are, sir," she said to him. And then a giddy smile spread across her face. "But the missile knew what they are, and if it did, then…"

Col. Davis cut in on her.

"..then someone," Col. Davis said, "had to have programmed the missile to find them. And since the missile broke off from its original target, then that means these Chrono Particles have priority over terrorist targets; why?"

Instantly, Col. Anthony Davis opened up the bottom drawer of his desk and whipped out a bottle of Jack Daniel's Whiskey. He also whipped out two shot glasses and pour himself, and Captain Karen Denning.

"Umm, sir," Capt. Denning said with her school girl charm, "I don't drink."

He handed her the shot glass of whiskey, and smiled at her.

"Today," he told her, "you start."

He watched with humor as she downed the shot, and experienced the first burning sensation of whiskey. For him, they finally had a reason to celebrate because, at last, they had something interesting to report to the higher-ups…and that what is was all about!


	7. Into Thin Air

**Prodigal Son**

 **Into Thin Air**

 **Steinmauer Maximum Security Prison...10am**

A grimaced face Robert Scorpio entered the cell that had, as of 8 hours ago, housed his dreaded nemesis; Cesar Faison. The lunatic had been a constant threat in the lives of many citizens of Port Charles. And yet, time after time, Cesar had been able to escape the fate he deserved most; death. Robert was beginning to regret not killing the bastard years ago.

"What happened?" Robert asked the Warden of the prison; Petar Syvinsky.

Robert sized up Petar Syvinsky, and deduced he was your typical paper pusher; with no real life experience with thugs and murderers like Faison.

"He simply vanished," Petar said with a thick Swedish accent, as well with an air of arrogance in his voice. "And quite frankly, Mr. Scorpio, we have no idea how."

Robert chuckled; his angry chuckle.

"People just don't vanish into thin air," Robert came back with. And then he pointed up at the surveillance camera in the corner of the room. "Please tell me you have some sort of recording."

There was an awkward silence.

"Well," Petar replied, "we do, and we don't."

Robert shook his head, and inside his head he said the F-word about 100 times real fast.

"What does that mean?" Robert asked.

Petar turned and headed out of the cold cell.

"Come, Mr. Scorpio," Petar said back to Robert. "I will show you how thin the air here can actually be."

Moments later they were in Petar Syvinsky's office. And displayed on the screen were images Robert Scorpio could not explain.

The video, filmed hours ago, showed streams of energy swirling about in Faison's cell. Faison was grasping at his head, as if he were in pain and then…THEN…the energy swirled around the madman's body and then he simply…disappeared.

There was only one thing Robert could say after seeing that.

"Huh," Robert said with a curious tone in his voice.

Several moments later, having left Steinmauer Maximum Security prison, Robert was in his rental car heading toward the airport as fast as he could. He also flipped open his cellphone and made a call. When the person on the other side of the call answered, Robert spoke with a very serious tone.

"Anna," Robert said, "we have a problem…"

Continued…


	8. The Instinctive Nature

**Prodigal Son**

 **The Instinctive Nature**

Queen's Point was a small suburb, not far from Port Charles, and its outlying communities were nestled near a mountain range.

Contained high in the mountain range were two ski lodges that were popular attractions in the winter time, and they were separated by a large lake that had several alcoves where its waters wrapped around a luscious forest.

Nearly 35 years ago, there had been a massive avalanche that had killed several hikers. One of the reported dead was Port Charles' very own Luke Spencer, but luckily that wasn't the case.

It was now springtime in 2017, and the lake was calm and pristine. The skiing season was over and the once snow covered mountain range was warming and the icy conditions were giving way to the change of seasons.

Two beavers made their way along the shoreline of the lake, scurrying about on their morning routine. They were herbivores, but seemed to have craving for Cherry trees, which there were plenty of in the nearby woods.

The two beavers came to a stop and watched with curious charm as the strangest thing began to happen.

Right before them, where the lake water loosely lapped up against a smooth section of sand, a section of the water did not retract back into the flow of the lake. This section of water was nearly six feet wide and defied gravity, because it slowly moved away from the water it separated from, and up the bank of sand which was at the bottom of a small hill. The beavers had never seen anything like it, but didn't know the wiser.

The curiosity of the two rodents, yes beavers were large rodents, was rewarded when this strange moving water came to a stop. It now appeared to be a simple puddle, six feet in diameter.

The beavers, both chewing on tree bark, watched as section of the puddle began to rise, still connected to the puddle, but slowly rising, as if a large bubble was trying to break away. And then the entire puddle began to take shape, and a quite recognizable shape…the shape of a human. And then the puddle was gone, and in its place stood a man, a naked man.

But the beavers didn't scurry away, which they instinctively did whenever they came upon humans.

The human looked about. He had originally taken form in a faraway desert (Issue #2). He had come to this place, this world, in search of his past in order to save a future of death. He had existed now, on this world, for nearly 30 or so sunlight cycles (30 days) and time was running out.

But he correctly sensed that he was getting closer to his past, closer to his origin, closer to _her_.

It was at that moment, from about fifty feet away, that another wild animal came running out of the forest, which rimmed the lake.

It was a deer…innocent in its charm, but clearly it was stressed as it saw the naked man. But then calmness came to deer, feeling no threat from the human at all.

Then, without warning, two human men emerged from the forest. They were wearing clothing that seemed to blend with the colors of the woods (camouflage gear). And, more importantly, they each held what clearly were weapons; rifles and their prey was clearly the deer.

The hunters came to a standstill when they saw, fifty feet beyond the deer they had chased into the open, the naked man…

Continued….


	9. Life Line

**Prodigal Son**

 **Life Line**

The hunters came to a standstill when they saw, fifty feet beyond the deer they had chased into the open toward the lake, the naked man…

"Must be some kind of pervert," one of the hunters, his name was Glen, said to his friend Willis.

"Must be from Los Angeles," Willis said with a giggle.

At that moment, the naked man began to walk toward the dear.

"Hey," Willis called out at the naked man, "that deer is ours."

But the naked man kept approaching the deer, though he was still 50 feet away.

And then, Glen aimed his rifle and shot the deer; the loud sound of the rifle's shot echoed loudly all around.

The force of the gun shot hit the deer in the midsection, causing the animal to be thrown to the ground; dead.

The two hunters, Glen and Willis, watched as the naked man had stopped walking toward the now dead animal. And then something strange happen; clothing, including blue jeans and a shirt, as well as shoes and a windbreaker, morphed out of nothing and appeared on the strange man.

"How did he do that?" Willis asked in a totally dumfounded tone.

"Look," Glen said, "the idiot is still walking toward our kill. What's his problem?"

Willis shook his head.

"I don't care if he's a stupid moron," Glen said, "that deer's head is going above my fireplace; c'mon."

The two hunters, still holding their rifles, picked up their pace and in moments they stood on one side of the dead animal, the strange man, with shoulder length black hair, the other.

"Mister," Glen said to the stranger, "maybe you're new to these parts, but this is deer hunting season and that was a clean kill."

The stranger looked at Glen.

"This animal was of no threat to you," the stranger said. "Why did you feel it necessary to kill it? If you wish, I shall show you how to plant crops, if it is hunger driving you to such action."

"I killed it, you weirdo," Glen replied, "not because I was hungry; but because I wanted to. When I get it back to my truck, I'm going to slice the head off, stuff it, and then hang it above my fireplace...do you have a problem with that?"

The stranger looked down at the motionless deer, then back at the two humans.

"I won't let you do that," the Stranger said.

The two men instantly aimed their rifles at him.

"Alright," Willis said, after a chuckle. "We've had enough of your shit, so why don't you just back off before we lose our tempers."

And then, all of a sudden, the two rifles became hot; so hot that the two hunters let the rifles out of their grasps.

But instead of falling to the sand of the beach, the guns just hovered in front of the hunters, and then, they slowly rotated around so that the barrels of the rifles were aiming at their owners, who both gulped in fear at what they were seeing.

"What are you friend," Glen asked with fear in his voice, "a demon?"

The Stranger just stared at the two men, then he replied.

"I am not a demon, and," he added with a pause, "I am not your friend."

One of the rifles altered its aim slightly, and then it fire a round. The bullet barely missed Glen's head by mere inches. The two hunters suddenly became silent; worried that their lives were in mortal danger.

"Run," the Stranger said to the two men.

Not needing to be told again, the hunters turned around and ran as fast as they could toward the nearby woods. The Stranger fired another shot as they ran, making his point.

Once the hunters were far from few, the rifles became so hot, the metal of the barrels and the bullets melted into liquid and dripped to the ground and dissolved into the sand.

The Stranger knelt down next to the deer and smiled; it wasn't too late. He brought his hands together above the gaping wound, then rubbed them together.

A strange blue glow of energy began to circle just above the wound, and in mere moments, the wound was gone and the deer opened its eyes and stood back up.

It looked at the human one more time, and then ran off in the opposite direction that hunters had gone.

The two beavers, who had watched the entire ordeal, scurried off into the distance.

As the Stranger began to walk, pain came over him, and he knew why. Being an empath, absorbing the wounds of other lifeforms, had a drawback. The wound would appear on him, but in a diluted form. He knelt down to the sand of the beach and closed his eyes, fighting back the pain. And then, a few minutes later, the gaping wound on his own body faded away.

It was time to continue his mission and to find his mother. So much depended on it…and time was running out.


	10. Deathly Brew

**Prodigal Son**

 **Deathly Brew**

It was 730AM as Police Commissioner Anna Devane entered her office at police headquarters in downtown Port Charles. In one hand she held a cup of strong coffee, which would be better described as battery acid, which Detective Nathan West had brewed up, and a stack of files in the other. She shuffled over to her desk, hoping she wouldn't trip and spill the coffee, or the clump of files, or both!

After setting everything down on her desk, which was neat and uncluttered for now, a miracle upon itself, Anna settled down into her chair and took a deep breath. But there was no apprehension in her breath because, at least for the moment, the overall feeling she had was restive; at last.

Luckily, for now at least, Port Charles was free of any mob wars. There were no unsolved big name murder mysteries, there were no unruly protestors still angry about the recent Presidential election, and petty theft crimes were at historic low levels.

The city wasn't crimeless, needless to say uniformed officers were still patrolling and detectives were still solving crimes; but for the first time in a long time, the levels were doable.

It was at moment when Detective Dante Falconeri knocked on the opened door to Anna's office.

"Good morning boss," Dante said as he saw Anna sipping at her coffee. "Are you sure you want to drink that stuff? It could be fatal," Dante added mock worry in his voice.

Anna giggled slightly, which pleased Dante. Anna had gone through so much in the past year, it was comforting to see her at ease.

"You know," Anna said as she placed the cup of coffee down, "I hate to say it but I am starting to like Nathan's poison. Next to Robert, he makes the worst coffee on the planet, but…I like it."

Dante nodded his head. He didn't understand it, but…everyone had their quarks.

"Anyway," Dante said, "there's a call for you on line three. Someone claims to have a tip and will only discuss it the police commissioner."

Anna reached for the phone, but before picking up the receiver, she looked up at Dante.

"Do you have tap on the call; just in case?" Anna asked.

Dante nodded his head.

"A tap," Dante replied, "and we're recording it too."

Anna nodded her head, and then Dante left her office and headed back to his desk so he could listen in on the call. It was standard protocol, unless the commissioner requested otherwise, which Anna hadn't.

Anna put the receiver to her right ear, took a sip of Nathan's toxic mix, and then she pressed the blinking line-3 button on the phone.

"Good morning," Anna said, "this is Commissioner Anna Devane; how can I help you?"

There was a slight pause, and then the person on the other end replied.

"Hello Anna," the voice said.

The ice cold voice was instantly recognized by Anna, and why not? The man had terrorized Anna's life, as well as many others, including her daughter Robin among them, for decades.

"Faison…" Anna said with an anger tipped but calm voice…

Continued…


	11. Can Lightning Strike Twice?

**Prodigal Son**

 **Can Lightning Strike Twice?**

* * *

 **Featuring**

 **Tristan Rogers as Robert Scorpio**

 **Lawrence Fishburne as Colonel Anthony Davis**

 **Felicia Jones as Captain Karen Denning**

 **and**

 **William Devane as NSA Director Caleb Reynolds**

* * *

 **Previously…issue #6**

 **CIA HEADQUARETERS in Langley Virginia**

 **UUO Division**

 ** _(_** _The main duty of the UUO was to explain the occasional malfunction of tech weapons, such as drones and missiles)_

 _Colonel Anthony (played by Lawrence Fishburne) Davis of the US Army hated his current assignment, and why not. Whereas his peers were racking up ribbons for their dress uniforms while fighting the war on terror in the middle- east, he was assigned to a no-nothing division of the CIA._

 _Suddenly Captain Karen Denning rushed in. She was the one person who worked at the UUO who actually had enthusiasm, ever looking for the strange malfunctions and trying to explain and correct them._

 _She then showed him footage from a drone in the middle-east that had been launched at a military target but then veered off course and straight toward a man who was cradling an injured girl in his arms…and then both of them vanished after a blue swirling cloud formation enveloped them._

Our story continues…

* * *

Three weeks had passed, and Colonel Anthony Davis and Captain Karen Denning were in a top-secret meeting with the head of the National Security Agency (NSA) at NSA headquarters in Washington DC. His name was Caleb Reynolds, and he had once been in the U. S. military, having risen to the rank of a Vice-Admiral in the Navy.

Both Colonel Davis and Captain Denning waited with baited breath as Mr. Reynolds prepared to give them an update on the footage from the drone that the two of them had reported up the Chain of Command. Up to now, the UUO (Unattributed and Unaccounted Operations) had been the laughing stock of the many CIA divisions, having never really found anything of interest; so both the Colonel and the Captain hoped this footage would shine a brighter light on the UUO.

"Well," Mr. Reynolds began to say, as he looked at the two officers who sat across from him at his desk, "I've had our top people look at the drone's footage and," he paused for effect, "we found no evidence of anything out of the ordinary. Obviously people don't disappear inside of clouds," Reynolds even chuckled a little. "But," he added, noticing the disappointment in their eyes, "thank you for bringing this to our attention."

Mr. Reynolds stood up and shook their hands, and then watched as his secretary escorted them out of his office. Once he was alone in again in his office, Mr. Reynolds sat behind his desk and brought the drone's footage back up on his computer screen; waiting for his next appointment to arrive.

Reynolds had seen the footage over and over and over again, and knew there was more to this footage than he could reveal to Colonel Davis and Captain Denning in an upfront manner. But, he was going to try and help the two in a more subtle way; just on the offhand chance that the footage was artificially created. He didn't want to be associated with another crackpot "aliens" or "ghost" conspiracy.

It was then that the door to his office opened again, and this time his secretary escorted just one person in. He was a man whom Mr. Reynolds had known from the past; his name was Robert Scorpio. They both shook hands and sat down at the desk.

"It is good to see you Robert," Mr. Reynolds said, as he opened up his bottom desk drawer and whipped out a bottle of bourbon and poured two shot glasses, handing one of them to Robert.

"It has been too long," Robert agreed, as he downed his glass. "Actually, I was kind of surprised when I received your message via one of the old back-door communication channels. Why the secrecy?"

Reynolds had downed his drink too.

"I'll cut to the chase, Robert," Reynolds, sitting back in his chair, said back to Robert. "I know you visited the Steinmauer Maximum Prison a month ago, and I know why."

Robert set his glass down.

"You saw the footage of what happened in Faison's cell" Robert stated in a matter of fact tone, cutting to the point as well.

Caleb Reynolds nodded his head. He was an old rust bucket meat and potato man, and was no fan of science fiction or fantasy; in fact he despised anything that wasn't grounded in reality. He took a deep breath, and then continued.

"I don't know what that prison cell's camera recorded," Reynolds said, "but…be that as it may; I have an open mind Robert. I want you to see something," Reynolds continued to say as he swiveled his computer's screen to face Robert. "And then tell me what you think…"

Reynolds pressed the play button on his keyboard and played the drone's footage for Robert Scorpio to see. And just as Reynold's predicted, Robert arched his eyebrow in determined curiosity. Robert Scorpio was always one to have the perfect come back line as he lifted his shot glass.

"Pour me another…"

Continued…


	12. Mustache Twirler

**Prodigal Son**

 **Mustache Twirler**

 **Previously…**

Dante Falconeri knocked on the opened door to Anna's office.

"Good morning boss," Dante said as he saw Anna sipping at her coffee. "There is a call for you on line three. Someone claims to have a tip and will only discuss it with the police commissioner."

"Do you have a tap on the call; just in case?" Anna asked.

Dante nodded and then he left her office and headed back to his desk so he could listen in on the call.

"Good morning," Anna said, "this is Commissioner Anna Devane; how can I help you?"

" _Hello… Anna_ ," the voice on the other end said.

The ice cold voice was instantly recognized by Anna

"Faison…" Anna said with soft anger tipped on her calm voice…

 _ **Our story continues…**_

Twenty minutes later, Anna drove her police issued black SUV toward a secluded park located on the outskirts of Port Charles. She was alone in the vehicle, but the voice of Dante Falconeri was talking to her from the police radio on the dashboard.

" _I don't like this Anna," Dante said. "Going alone to meet that psychopath Faison just might rank up there as one of the most dangerous and, to be honest, crazy decisions you've ever made."_

Anna nodded her head.

"He won't try anything," Anna said. "Besides, he probably thinks someone from the PCPD is following me. You are still back at your desk; right Dante?"

Anna already knew the answer, having spotted Dante in his own car, tailing her several cars behind. She had always been an expert at picking out unwanted tails.

" _I know you can see me back here," Dante came back with. "Good to see those expert WSB skills are still alive and kicking."_

"Well," Anna added with a smile, "just don't let Faison see you; at least not yet."

" _Anna; he is fugitive from the law," Dante reminded her. "We should take him down. I still think we should call Robert and get his help on this."_

Anna took a deep breath.

"No," Anna came back with, "I don't want to involve Robert; not yet. Faison claims to have special information that concerns me…and Robin. So I want to hear what he has to say without Robert's temper spooking him."

" _Alright," Dante said after a measurable pause. "I'll go along and play it your way; for now…"_

Anna came upon the park, which was comprised of several pathways that weaved in and out of many varieties of trees. And as for Faison; she could easily seem him sitting alone at one of the park benches; not even bothering to stay out of view.

Moments later, having shut the SUV off, she stepped out of the black vehicle and made her way toward the man sitting at the bench who had been such a negative aspect in her life; going back decades. The air was kind of cold, and mist could still be seen clinging to the trees; fighting off the rising sun

Faison smiled at her as she approached. There were in fact two benches, and they were arranged so that they were facing each other.

"Alright," Anna said, "I'm here…what do you want?"

Faison nodded his head and motioned for her to sit on the other bench facing him. She was going to decline, but did so anyway…anything to get the entire ordeal over.

"Thank you for coming on such a short notice," Faison said with his usual creepy voice; as he looked directly at Anna. "I suppose you would like to arrest me and send me back to that prison."

"Oh, don't worry; I am still considering that option," Anna said back to him in her own cold voice.

"Would it surprise you to know," Faison continued, "that another one of our friends has also arrived, secretly, nearby?" Faison asked.

Anna had no idea what Faison was referring to.

"Tell me,"…

At that moment, in the not so far mountain range located above the small town of Queen's Point, three men made their way out of the forest and toward the quiet shoreline of a lake. Two of the men were hunters who had told a tall tell to the local Sheriff two weeks earlier, and somehow that story gained the interest of the third man. He had come to Queen's Point to hear the story the men had told, but directly from their own mouths; not filtered by the exuberant local reports out to sell papers.

This man was named Frisco Jones…

Continued…


	13. Who Was Casey?

**Prodigal Son**

 **Who Was Casey?**

 **(please; read the previous issue if you haven't…this issue begins right where that one ended)**

Faison was sitting on one of two benches located near a cluster of trees. Joggers could be seen in the near distance, the many paths were famous with the exercise crowd; even on slightly cool mornings as this one was.

"Thank you for coming on such a short notice," Faison said with his usual creepy voice; as he looked directly at Anna. "I suppose you would like to arrest me and send me back to that prison."

"Oh, don't worry; I am still considering that option," Anna said back to him in her own cold voice as she sat down on the other bench.

"Would it surprise you to know," Faison continued, "that another one of our friends has also arrived, secretly, at nearby mountain resort?" Faison asked.

( _Faison is referring to Frisco Jones who is at that mountain resort investigating the strange story of the two hunters…Issue #9 "Life Lines")_

Anna had no idea what Faison was referring to.

"No…please indulge me," Anna said skeptically.

Faison shook his head side to side.

"No," he said after a moment, "I'm sure he will be knocking on your door soon enough."

Anna didn't like how Faison could always meander around the point of the matter; he was an expert.

"Faison," Anna said, with a tone of irritation in her voice, "I didn't come here to play one of your silly games. You said on the phone that your information had something to do with Robin and I; what is it?"

Faison took out a vaping cigarette, and activated it.

"You gave up smoking?" Anna asked with a slight laugh. "I used to hope smoking would do away with you."

Faison nodded his head.

"Yes, well," Faison replied with regret in his voice. "These things are nowhere as dashing as the real McCoy, as Americans would say, but," he paused, "it is what it is. Now, as for why we are here in this beautiful park; can you tell me what you were doing twenty-seven years ago; 1990 to be exact."

Anna shook her head side to side.

"What is this?" she asked. "Why ask me a mundane question like that?"

Faison took a drag on his electronic cigarette and asked again.

"Just humor me Anna," Faison said, "what were you doing in 1990?"

Anna didn't want to play along, but usually Faison had a meaning to his chain of thoughts, though sometimes it was loaded with psychopathic reasoning.

"Oh, I don't know," she replied. "I'm sure Robert, Duke and I were dealing with the mob, or probably you and one of your crazy schemes."

Faison nodded his head.

"I'm going to give you a name," Faison said, after a moment. "You tell me what you know about him; Casey Rogers."

Anna had the brief image of a man in her mind, but then it faded and the image of another man, who wore glasses, came into her memories.

"If you referring to Shep Casey," Anna replied, "he was someone I knew briefly back then; why do you ask?"

"So you have no memory of a man named Casey Rogers?" Faison interjected quickly.

"Look," Anna said, becoming impatient Faison, "I don't know what any of this has to do with me, or with Robin, but …"

Faison cut her off, after pressing a small button on the side of his electronic cigarette.

"Anna," Faison said, motioning with his hands for her to stop talking. "You did know a man named Casey Rogers back then, and now it seems you don't." Faison stood up and looked down at Anna who remained seated on the bench, and then he continued. "Contact Scorpio, or Frisco Jones, and see what they have to say about Casey Rogers, if anything. I will make contact with you soon, and believe me, Robin's life depends on you knowing who Casey Rogers is…"

And then, a strange red colored mist appeared around Faison and then…he was gone!

Continued…


	14. Me and Mr Jones

**Prodigal Son**

 **Me and Mr. Jones**

 _It had been two weeks since Robert Scorpio had met with the head of the NSA; Caleb Reynolds. They had briefly discussed the strange disappearance of Faison at the prison he was being held at, as well as the strange occurrence of a military drone purposely straying of course and attempting to destroy a civilian in Iraq._

 _Caleb then asked Robert to assist an obscure division at CIA Headquarters. UUO was in charge of investigating strange technical errors, such as the error with the drone, and to see if the defective drone, and Faison's escape, were related…_

 _Our story continues (a few days after Anna's strange meeting with Faison at the park_ )

 **CIA HEADQUARETERS in Langley Virginia**

 **Colonel Anthony (played by Lawrence Fishburne) Davis' office…**

Colonel Davis sat behind his desk. Sitting across from him were Captain Karen (played by Felicia Jones) Denning and Robert Scorpio; special consultant assigned by the NSA.

"It's been two weeks," Col. Davis said to Robert and Captain Karen Denning, "Two weeks since the NSA said our report about the drone attacking that civilian was foolish. But now," but as usual, Captain Karen Denning, with all her excitement, cut him off.

"Now… sir," Denning said with confidence, "we know something is up; thanks to Mr. Scorpio."

Col. Davis and Captain Denning had, at first, been suspicious of Robert when he had been assigned to the project two weeks earlier. But, since that time, they had come to trust him. Robert also conveyed to them that Director Caleb Reynolds couldn't overtly support the effort; but he wouldn't stand in the way either.

Robert, who sipped on a cup of coffee, looked up at the viewing screen on the wall to the side of the desk. To either side of the screen were paintings of Abe Lincoln and Martin Luther King. The footages (the drone attack on the man and video footage of Faison literally vanishing from his cell in prison) were being displayed.

Both footages displayed time-stamp data as well as other tactical information. But the same word, on both footages, was highlighted in red; CHRONO-PARTICLES.

"So let me get this straight," Robert's Australian accented voice said to Captain Denning, "both footages are the original recordings, and these Chrono-Particles were on both. Detected not only via the raw video footage, but via the special sensing methods imbedded into the recording devices as well."

Captain Denning smiled her charming smile at Robert.

"So what does that mean exactly?" Col. Davis interjected.

Captain Denning took a breath and summed it all up for the both men.

"The video recording instruments at the prison," she began to say, "as well as the drone's instrument panels, were both upgrades ordered by unknown parties in the US Government. These upgrades were installed a year or so ago. They were also programmed to look for these Chrono-Particles. In other words…"

Robert cut her off.

"Someone was looking for these particles," Robert deduced. "And from what my sources have told me at the WSB, the current director, and old acquaintance of mine named Frisco Jones, is the one spearheading the search; why?"

"What do we do now?" Captain Denning asked. "If the WSB infiltrated our systems, and the NSA's, then we have to challenge their ability to do this."

Colonel Anthony Davis nodded his head.

"I agree," Colonel Davis said, and then he looked over at Robert. "You use to be the director of the WSB, Robert. Will you have any problem taking them down unless they cooperate with our investigation?"

Robert had a look of trepidation on his face.

"The WSB," Robert began to explained, "is under the purview of the United Nations. The United States, Britain, and other governments, gave the WBS broad authority. So…I suggest, before we stir up the bee hive, we try to negotiate with…the queen; in this case Frisco Jones."

Robert stood up, and prepared to leave.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Col. Davis asked Robert.

Robert thought for a moment.

"Not yet," Robert said with a smile. "Like I said; Frisco Jones and I go back a long time. If I Can't get him to open up," Robert paused and then whistled the first few bars of the Star Spangled Banner, then he continued, "then you can send in the marines…"

Moments later, Robert Scorpio headed out of CIA Headquarters, driving his burgundy colored Tesla. His destination was WSB Headquarters, which was secretly hidden under an abandoned industrial site in New Jersey. As Robert steered his car toward the freeway, his expert super-agent eyesight detected a car tailing him five cars back. He could only wonder who was who was following him…and why.

Next issue…Anna Devane meets… _him_


	15. Ripple Across the Mind

**Prodigal Son**

 **Ripple Across the Mind**

 **Port Charles; Police Headquarters….**

Commissioner Anna Devane, who had an office at the City Administration building, also maintained an office at the PCPD headquarters as well; so as to keep a presence alongside the uniformed officers and the detectives.

She had arrived at work an hour earlier, and observed the morning briefings given by the various department heads. Now, back in her office, she found herself staring out the window in deep thought. Who was Cesar Faison referring to; who was Casey Rogers? Had she known such a man?

The name was causing ripples in her mind, with images just beyond the grasp of recognition. Suddenly there was a knock at her door.

"Come in," Anna said, never taking her glance away from the window, and the view of the docks in the distance.

Detective Dante Falconeri, holding a _Star Wars_ coffee mug, entered and came over to Anna's desk and sat down across from her. It had been a few days since her strange meeting with Cesar Faison, which Dante had monitored from a safe distance. Both Dante and Anna had said very little about that day, and more specifically, Faison's unique departure.

"Anna, it's been a few days now." Dante finally said with a soft voice, "so…what was that? How did Faison just…"

Anna cut Dante off.

"…he wasn't really there," Anna said, though she realized it was a stretch to even suggest.

Dante shook his head, and looked at his coffee mug.

"What are you saying?" Dante asked with a forced chuckle. "Is he a Jedi; and can appear as a ghost?"

Anna shook her head and then scooted away from the window, and brought her chair closer to her desk.

"I don't know, Dante." Anna said after a moment. "But it's either something as silly as that, or some sort of hologram, or…"

"…or," Dante interjected, "he really did vanish before your eyes. You haven't told me yet what the two of you spoke about. Did it have anything to do with Robin at all?"

Again, Anna could only wonder herself.

"All he asked about," Anna finally replied, "was if I remembered a man from the past, 1990 to be exact, named Casey Rogers. And for a brief instant, a memory came into my mind. But then I remembered another acquaintance named Shep Casey and…well…Faison told me that I had known this other person, Casey Rogers. And then Faison decided to….leave…"

The nature of Faison's departure, disappearing inside a red mist, was the strangest part of it all.

Dante thought for a moment.

"Well, 1990 was twenty-seven years ago," Dante came back with. "Who can blame you if you didn't remember brief meetings with people that long ago?" Dante stood up. "Anyway," he added, "I've got some paperwork to do, but if you want to talk about it again," Dante said to his boss, who was also his friend, "I'm here."

And with that, Dante left Anna alone in her office. Anna stared at the phone on her desk and toyed with the thought of calling Robert, and telling him about the meeting with Faison, but decided against it; for now.

She began to log on to her desktop computer when a strange blue glowing light appeared in the far corner of her office. There were no desk lamps in that part of the office, so Anna had no idea where the blue glow was coming from…and then…the most incredible thing happened; a glowing blue mist appeared and then…a man appeared. But the man wasn't Cesar Faison at all.

Anna opened her desk and reached for the gun she kept hidden there just on the off chance something were to happen; and this qualified as something indeed. She was going to pull the weapon out, but didn't. The man, who appeared to be in his mid20s, and who wore gray slacks and a black collared shirt, had a peacefulness to him. And then she thought to herself; who was he?

And then he responded to the questioned she has asked herself.

"I am," the man said with a calmness to his voice, "your…son…"

Anna could only stare back with wonder…and shock too!

Continued….soon…


	16. The Drip of Memory

**Prodigal Son**

 **The Drip of Memory**

Three co-workers (all men in their early 40s) were huddled on the ground together inside a small storage room. On one side of the storage room there were shelves with assorted varieties of potato chips and cookies. On the other side of the storage room there were several types of six and twelve packs of beer. There were also a couple calendars on the dingy walls that displayed buxom women, barely clothed, in various poses; one for each month; Miss May was one of the more buxom.

A man wearing a ski mask over his face watched as his two fellow thugs applied tape over the three unsuspecting workers mouths. He then watched as their wrists were zip tied together.

"Now listen," the masked man said to each of the three captives. "I don't want to kill you," he lifted his shirt, exposing a handgun's handle sticking out the top of his waist, "but I will if I have to. So…" he said with a pause, "don't make any noises and you might actually live through this."

The three nodded at him rapidly.

The place was called Anton's. It was a small convenience store/bar that catered to the locals of Queen Point (a ski resort town located in the distant mountains that could be seen, on a clear day, from Port Charles).

The mask man nodded at the other two, who also wore masks, and then he left the storage room, leaving the other two to stand watch over the hostages.

Making his way down the small corridor that led from the back area of the store to the bar, the man removed his mask to reveal a slight smile. He had no intention of killing anyone, and why would he? His name was Frisco Jones, and he was the director of the W.S.B.

The fake holdup was nothing more than table setting for what was to come next. He looked at the clock on the nearby wall, which was in the shape of a Batman logo, and saw that it was almost time. It was then that he heard the sound of a vehicle pulling up outside; they were here. Frisco looked down at the briefcase on one of the tables, and then sat down next to it. Moments later the door to the bar opened up and two men walked in; their names were Glen and Willis (the two hunters who had a strange encounter with a naked man and a deer).

"Hello friends," Frisco Jones said to the two men as they came inside and approached the table.

Glenn and Willis looked like they could have come straight out of an episode of "The Dukes of Hazard" sat down at the table across from Frisco; their eyes leering at the briefcase, hoping beyond hope there was something valuable inside.

"Pretty cool," Glen said, as he realized no one else was there. "You must be one of them powerful secret agents to close down Anton's and tell all the workers to leave."

"Something like that," Frisco said as he nodded his head. "Now, just as we agreed," Frisco told the both of them, as he clicked open the locks on either side of the briefcase.

Frisco slowly opened the briefcase and turned it around to face the two men; there was indeed money inside; twenty-thousand dollars; in 5s and 1s.

"Ten thousand each," Frisco told the two men. "But remember," Frisco added, "you must never speak again about what you saw that day; with the deer and stranger you encounter."

"Is it real?" Willis asked with a look of lust in his eyes as he looked at the money.

Frisco smiled and nodded his head.

"Go ahead," Frisco added with a smile, "smell it..."

Willis and Glen each picked up one of the stacks of money and did as Frisco suggested they do, and inhaled as deep as they could; just as Frisco knew they would. And then, ten seconds later, both men were out cold as their heads slouched down and rested on the table.

It was then that Frisco reached into his left pant pocket and took out a slender rectangular shaped case and opened it. Inside was an object the size of a pen which he then took out. He removed the upper section that revealed a very…very…very…slender needle.

Frisco stood up and put the needle to the back of Glen's head. On the upper section of the device were numbers. Frisco put his finger on the top of the device and pressed down, all the while watching the numbers fluctuate to where he wanted them to be; and then the slender needle slid inside of the back of Glen's head…penetrating about one inch in. He then did the same thing to Willis. He wasn't killing the two men, but he had injected each of them with a small dose of a drug that would wipe out their memories from the last month, or maybe a little longer.

They would no longer have memories of their encounter with the naked man at the lake, nor would they have the memory of what he had done to the deer. And as for the news story in the local paper? Luckily only 500 people lived in Queens Point, and it was already long forgotten and never really believed anyway.

Frisco wasn't going to leave the twenty-thousand dollars, but he did remove six hundred dollars, void of the knock out gas that had dropped them earlier, and put three hundred dollars in each of their pockets; they deserved a little.

And with that, Frisco, and the other two WSB agents from the storage room, left Anton's. Their mission had been accomplished and the incident at the lake had been contained…or was it...

Next time… "Anna's Turn"


	17. The Palm of my Hand

**Prodigal Son**

 **The Palm of My Hand**

 **previously...**

 _Now that Anna was alone in her office at PCPD headquarters, she thought about calling Robert (Scorpio), and telling him about the strange meeting she had with Faison, but then she decided against it; for now. (that strange meeting happened in Issue #13 "Who was Casey?"…)_

 _She began to log on to her desktop computer when a strange blue glowing light appeared in the far corner of her office. There were no desk lamps in that part of the office, so Anna had no idea where the blue glow was coming from…and then…the most incredible thing happened; a glowing blue mist appeared and then…a man appeared. But the man wasn't Cesar Faison at all._

 _Anna opened her desk and reached for the gun she kept hidden there just on the off chance something were to happen; and this qualified as something indeed. She was going to pull the weapon out, but didn't. The man, who appeared to be in his mid20s, and who wore gray slacks and a black collared shirt, had a peacefulness to him. And then she thought to herself; who was he?_

 _And then he responded to the questioned she has asked herself._

 _"I am," the man said with a calmness to his voice, "your…son…"_

 _Anna could only stare back with wonder…and shock too!_

 _Our story continues…from where Issue # 15 ended ("Ripple across the Mind")_

* * *

"I'm sorry, sir," Anna said to the man who had suddenly appeared in her office, "but I think I would know whether or not I had a son…and I don't have one. Now look," Anna continued, "I'm not sure how you managed to stage a magician's trick like that in my office, but you haven't done anything rash, so I'm willing to just open my door and let you leave peacefully. So, I'm going to…"

Anna began to reach for the door, but the man spoke again, and somehow his voice transcended all rational thought and compelled her to listen…or more to the point…absorb his words into her soul.

"Please listen," the man stated calmly, "I have traveled a great distance to find you. I have been here on your world for a short time, and only recently have my cognizant memories…"

Anna rolled her eyes upon hearing his science-fiction laden words. She wanted to believe him, but she had come to the conclusion that this stranger was delusional and, maybe, even dangerous. Her impulse was to use her Karate training, and attack him before he could do something that might endanger her, but…then she thought about her recent meeting with Faison, and how he had magically disappeared right before her eyes in pretty much the same manner as the stranger had appeared. So, with that in mind, her mind leaped to the most obvious question.

"Was your father," Anna began to say, cutting the stranger off. "A man named Casey Rogers?"

The stranger smiled…he was quite impressed with Anna's question, but he was just as curious as to how she had arrived at it.

"Yes, that was his nomenclature while on your world." the stranger replied. "I have chosen the nomenclature Aaron for myself, though," he added with a naïve nature to his voice, "you can address me as anything you wish…mother."

Anna softly chuckled at his usage of the term nomenclature. She didn't want to laugh, but the entire conversation was bazaar as it was. But before Anna could ask a question, and she had many, Aaron spoke again.

"Can you please tell me what you know of my father?" Aaron asked.

Anna sat down at her desk, wanting to ease the situation, and to have access to the gun in her drawer if need be, and motioned for Aaron to sit down across from her.

"Actually," Anna said, looking directly at him with sympathy, "I don't have any memories of your father at all. And to be honest with you," she added, "I'm not even sure if he existed. So as for me being your," she paused for a brief moment, "mother; I'm pretty sure that isn't really true either. I'd like to know why you think…"

Aaron cut in on her words.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Aaron said, smiling as he spoke, "but how do you know of the name Casey Rogers?"

Anna decided to be honest with Aaron, having concluded in her mind that he wasn't really a threat…he was just confused (as was she!).

"A man," Anna began to explain, "recently asked me about your father as well. But like I told you, I have no memories of anyone name Casey Rogers."

"Who was this man?" Aaron asked, with a slight tone of concern in his voice.

Anna didn't want to answer that question, because she was already being to forthright anyway as it was. She was about to refuse to answer when suddenly Aaron opened his right hand. Somehow, someway, Faison's face was being projected just inches above the palm of Aaron's hand.

"Was this the man?" Aaron asked.

Suddenly….Anna became concerned too…

WASHINTON DC

* * *

After his meeting with Colonel Davis and Captain Denning (Issue #14 "Me and Mr. Jones") Robert had decided to drive over to WSB Headquarters in New Jersey to meet up with the current head of the clandestine agency; Frisco Jones.

Because If the WSB had been the ones who had programmed military drones to track the mysterious chrono-particles, Robert wanted to know why.

But as he drove his burgundy Tesla toward the freeway on-ramp that would put him on the road to Jersey, he realized very quickly that a car was following him. He used the special rear view mirror to zoom in on the driver; a woman in her early 30s sat behind the steering wheel, and Robert recognized her immediately; Anna Donely…daughter of Sean Donely!

To be continued…


	18. Season One

**Season two of this story is coming soon. In preparation, I have posted every chapter of the story in this one post. So if you are new to this story, you can just read this one post and catch up before Season Two starts (in about three-four days). If you've read the story before, consider this a refresher…thank you for your interest in this my story.**

 **Prodigal Son #001**

 **From…Yesterday**

In 1990, a unique traveler came to Port Charles to save the world from the evil Cesar Faison. This traveler befriended a young Robin Scorpio, and eventually he won the heart, if only briefly, of Anna Devane.

Now, 27 years later, the continuation of that storyline brings another traveler to Port Charles.

The Prodigal son…

 **Chapter #002**

" **The Sand man"**

 **Iraq…the city of Haditha**

The citizens of Haditha, a farming town located 150 miles northwest from Bagdad, scurried into their homes and closed their windows and doors; as best they could.

Once safe inside, the families huddled together in preparation of what was to come…a sandstorm.

Relentless sandstorms had been pummeling Haditha since ancient times, just as they did in the present time of 2017.

Thankfully, with the advent of the modern forms of construction, the damage was usually minor. But just as hurricanes could ravage the homes of modern America, the sandstorms of Iraq could sometimes be just as deadly.

As the storm passed, and homes shook, the frightened children hugged parents for protection, and assurance that all would be fine. All the parents could offer back was a smile, which hid their own fear.

One child, a boy who was ten years old and brave, decided he wanted to see the sandstorm with his own eyes. And, without being noticed by his mother, the young boy ran out from the blankets that covered them and over to the window and looked through the seam of the drapes.

His eyes beheld the violence of the storm, the whirling sand making it nearly impossible to see anything else but twisting tendrils of the storm.

But then, quite unexpectedly, the young boy's eyes saw something else; a flash of light.

And then, standing tall in the storm, was a man; a dark haired man. One second there was nothing there, then came the flash of light, and then the man stood there. The boy was in awe!

The boy shivered in fear as the man turned and faced the window, and then, he smiled at the boy.

The boy's mom came over to the window, and stood in awe, just as her boy was, looking at the stranger outside. And then, this man, this stranger who had appeared out of nowhere, turned and walked into the storm again…and…was gone.

The Prodigal Son had arrived…and now…he had a mission. And that mission was to find his mother.

 **Chapter #003**

" **Outside of Me"**

 **The home of Anna Devane**

A thunderstorm had ravaged the city of Port Charles throughout the day, and was continuing into the night as if it were a column of marching soldiers sweeping over the horizon. The rain was powerful and windswept, the howling cries of the gusts sounding like packs of wolves in the distance as they found their prey.

But through all of it, Anna Devane was sound asleep in her bed, and was oblivious to the bright flashes of lightning outside the draped window, and also unawaken by the loud claps of thunder.

Lost inside her mind, Anna found herself beyond the confines of a dream, and the tunneled kaleidoscope of vision. She didn't see complex constructs of linear logic, but instead she saw swirls of emotionality and felt joy in her heart and soul.

And then, suddenly, she opened her eyes, or did she? Because although she was inside her room, she wasn't inside of her body. She could see herself sleeping contently, covered by her blankets, which guarded her like a womb. Was she dreaming of herself, or was it something more; was she existing outside of her body, as if an astral projection of her soul, her very essence.

"Anna," a voice whispered.

Looking away from her physical body on the bed, Anna searched the room to find the origin of the whisper.

"Anna," came the voice again; a man's voice.

Although she could hear the voice, she could not see where the voice had come from.

"The shadows are coming," the voice continued to say. "You must find the light before the shadows find you. They are looking for you Anna…they are looking for the both of you."

Anna looked down on her body again, but saw that instead of peaceful sleep, she was twisting about on the bed. It had become a restless sleep, and she wanted to wake.

And then she felt herself falling, as if she were a leaf in the wind, blown in not one or two, but dozens of directions, without reason or rhyme but yet somehow laced with destiny.

And then, she was back inside of her skin and opened her eyes. She closed them and found sleep again…but the shadows were close…very close.

 **#004**

 **Seven Days until Now**

 _One week has passed since the last passage…_

An airliner zoomed through the night time sky, on its way to the United States. The evening dinner service, an unrecognizable chicken dish, had just been served and now the more anticipated service, a round of free alcoholic drinks, were being served.

Sitting together in the first class section were Robert Scorpio and Anna Devane. And while Anna was in deep thought, Robert was licking his chops, anxiously awaiting his glass of bourbon.

"Calm down," Anna said to Robert, as she saw him ogling the attractive flight attendant making her way down the aisle with a drink tray. "You and Luke Spencer still act like teenage boys. The world is all bourbon and women to the both of you," Anna said with a dismissive humorous tone in her voice.

Robert smiled at Anna, and nodded his head.

"True," Robert admitted, "but hey," he added with his crisp Australian accent, "I never touch."

Anna smiled back at her roughish ex-husband. But she had to give him credit for accompanying her to Scotland to lay a reef at Duke Lavery's grave.

It had been one year since Duke had been murdered by Carlos Rivera, and when Anna told Robert she wanted to visit Duke's grave, Robert, who had been on a WSB assignment, dropped what he was doing and met her in Scotland to lay the reef, and was now flying back with her to America.

"I want to thank you," Anna said to Robert. "You could have bombarded me with I told you so this entire time, and I wouldn't have blamed you."

Robert Scorpio had always predicted that Duke's end would come via the mob, be it by nefarious or, in Duke's case, a legitimate attempt to shine the light on the underworld. But in any event, his demise came after Julian Jerome put a hit out on Duke, and it came to be.

Robert nodded his head, and as he began to talk to Anna about Duke, something strange began to happen; she couldn't hear Robert's words, or for that matter, anything else. The sounds of the airliner were quieted, the movie that was showing on the screen at the head of the cabin was muted, everything; it was as if she had lost her hearing.

It had only been a week since she had the strange dream while sleeping in her own bed. It was a dream that she had spent the last seven days analyzing.

Anna watched Robert's lips move, as he spoke, and then everything went, visually, went faded into darkness. And if her soul were a barometer to sense evil, she began to feel its presence.

 **Chapter #005**

 **Counter Balance**

 **Sweden…2am**

 **Steinmauer Maximum Security Prison...**

Cesar Faison opened his eyes. Not because he wanted to leave the dreams inside his demented mind, or because he was hungry or thirsty. He opened them because…he was forced to.

Because Cesar Faison was a notorious criminal, he was kept in his own cell, away from the other criminals that were housed by the prison; so weary was the warden that Faison would corrupt the minds of the others.

There were no sounds to be heard, due to the fact that at 2am, it was mandatory that all inmates were in their bunks and all lights were dimmed to their lowest setting. As Cesar stared at the unseen ceiling in his prison cell, he felt a strange sensation inside his mind; as if there was something pinching his thoughts. And although he knew it was impossible, he felt as if his brain was becoming ravaged by a cauldron of fire inside his skull.

It was at that moment when his eyes began to see strange swirls of light. He knew it was all inside of his mind, so he believed himself to be having some sort of mental breakdown, maybe even a stroke of some sort, maybe an aneurism.

And then, all of a sudden, he felt himself falling through the darkness. Since he had no idea what was happening to him, Cesar just took it all in. If he was indeed facing his death, due to stroke or some other reason, he wanted to experience it to the very end.

And then, just as the strange feeling inside his mind had appeared, as well as the swirling tendrils of energy and the burning sensation in his brain had each started as swiftly; it all stopped.

Cesar Faison felt the cold sensation of pavement about his body; he deduced he must have fainted due to some psychotic break inside of his mind.

But as he looked about his surroundings, he realized he was no longer in his prison cell in Sweden. But that didn't mean he didn't where he was; because he knew exactly where he was.

The catacombs on Spoon Island.

 **#006**

" **Someone Knows"**

 **CIA HEADQUARETERS in Langley Virginia**

Colonel Anthony (played by Lawrence Fishburne) Davis of the US Army hated his current assignment, and why not. Whereas his peers were racking up ribbons for their dress uniforms while fighting the war on terror in the middle- east, he was assigned to a division of the CIA.

The people below him did their jobs well, and reported to him with efficiency, but the thrill just wasn't there.

The division he ran had an interesting title; Unattributed and Unaccounted Operations (UUO). The main duty of the UUO was to explain the occasional malfunction of tech weapons, such as drones and missiles.

Generally the malfunctions were software issues, but sometimes, there could be foreign hacking involved. Once that was determined, then new software would be designed.

But occasionally there were instances that couldn't be explained and were flagged for further investigation. But those were few and far between.

Col. Davis was reading the morning reports when, without knocking, Captain Karen Denning rushed in. If Col. Davis could use one word to describe Captain Karen (played by Felicia Jones) Denning it would be perky. Because the UUO was a joint operation, there were officers from the different military branches, in this case, Captain Denning was from the Navy.

She was the one person who worked at the UUO who actually had enthusiasm, ever looking for the strange malfunctions and trying to explain and correct them.

Had Col. Davis been single, and twenty-years younger, he might have tried to court the young lady, because not only was she enthusiastic about her job, she was quite attractive, with an alluring naïveté in her demeanor.

"Captain Denning," Col. Davis said to the obviously excited woman, "we still knock before entering offices here at the UUO."

This was only about the hundredth time he had told her that; but, it was all part of her charm.

And as she spoke her words, Col. Davis silently mouthed them, already knowing what they would be.

"I know sir, but I think I have something," is what Karen Denning said to her commanding officer, all the while watching him mouth them as well.

"Captain," Col. Davis said to her, "you say that every time you burst into my office." He sighed. "Alright, what is it this time?"

The video Captain Denning shared was the typical footage of two missiles being launched from F-18 fighter jets, filmed by another missile, at targets on the ground. But as the missiles approached their target, one of them veered off the screen.

"Where did it go?" Col. Davis asked Capt. Denning.

She smiled at the Col, because she knew he was interested as well.

"That's the strange part," Capt. Denning replied. "The footage we will next see comes from the nose of that errant missile. And I warn you sir, it will be quite perplexing."

Col. Davis sat back in his chair and watched as the screen on his wall showed the footage recorded from the nose of the missile. And what is showed was indeed quite interesting. Denning slowed the footage down so he could see it clearly.

Because the footage was in hi-def, it was very crisp in detail. As the missile closed in on the target, it was clear it wasn't hurling toward the usual building or truck filled with bazooka wielding terrorists. Instead, it was aimed at a man cradling the body of a little girl, no doubt accidentally injured from an earlier attack.

Then is showed the man looking away from the injured child, and directly at the approaching missile and then, suddenly, both he and the little girl were surrounded by a bluish field of energy and then…they vanished.

And then the missile struck the ground and exploded.

"Sir," Denning said, "look at the tactical information to the side of the screen when I play the footage back."

Col. Davis did as Capt. Denning asked, this time not watching the footage, but instead, the tactical read out on the right hand side of the screen. The data he was reading came from the missile as well but instead of usual telemetry readings, it displayed two simple words; Chrono particles.

"Chrono particles," Col. Davis read out loud. "What the heck are those?"

The footage ended and Capt. Denning looked at Col. Davis.

"I have no idea what Chrono Particles are, sir," she said to him. And then a giddy smile spread across her face. "But the missile knew what they are, and if it did, then…"

Col. Davis cut in on her.

"..then someone," Col. Davis said, "had to have programmed the missile to find them. And since the missile broke off from its original target, then that means these Chrono Particles have priority over terrorist targets; why?"

Instantly, Col. Anthony Davis opened up the bottom drawer of his desk and whipped out a bottle of Jack Daniel's Whiskey. He also whipped out two shot glasses and pour himself, and Captain Karen Denning.

"Umm, sir," Capt. Denning said with her school girl charm, "I don't drink."

He handed her the shot glass of whiskey, and smiled at her.

"Today," he told her, "you start."

He watched with humor as she downed the shot, and experienced the first burning sensation of whiskey. For him, they finally had a reason to celebrate because, at last, they had something interesting to report to the higher-ups…and that what is was all about!

 **Chapter # 007**

" **Into Thin Air"**

 **Steinmauer Maximum Security Prison...10am**

A grimaced face Robert Scorpio entered the cell that had, as of 8 hours ago, housed his dreaded nemesis; Cesar Faison. The lunatic had been a constant threat in the lives of many citizens of Port Charles. And yet, time after time, Cesar had been able to escape the fate he deserved most; death. Robert was beginning to regret not killing the bastard a few years back.

"What happened?" Robert asked the Warden of the prison; Petar Syvinsky.

Robert sized up Petar Syvinsky, and deduced he was your typical paper pusher; with no real life experience with thugs and murderers like Faison.

"He simply vanished," Petar said with a thick Swedish accent, as well with an air of arrogance in his voice. "And quite frankly, Mr. Scorpio, we have no idea how."

Robert chuckled; his angry chuckle.

"People just don't vanish into thin air," Robert came back with. And then he pointed up at the surveillance camera in the corner of the room. "Please tell me you have some sort of recording."

There was an awkward silence.

"Well," Petar replied, "we do, and we don't."

Robert shook his head, and inside his head he said the F-word about 100 times real fast.

"What does that mean?" Robert asked.

Petar turned and headed out of the cold cell.

"Come, Mr. Scorpio," Petar said back to Robert. "I will show you how thin the air here can actually be."

Moments later they were in Petar Syvinsky's office. And displayed on the screen were images Robert Scorpio could not explain.

The video, filmed hours ago, showed streams of energy swirling about in Faison's cell. Faison was grasping at his head, as if he were in pain and then…THEN…the energy swirled around the madman's body and then he simply…disappeared.

There was only one thing Robert could say after seeing that.

"Huh," Robert said with a curious tone in his voice.

Several moments later, having left Steinmauer Maximum Security prison, Robert was in his rental car heading toward the airport as fast as he could. He also flipped open his cellphone and made a call. When the person on the other side of the call answered, Robert spoke with a very serious tone.

"Anna," Robert said, "we may have a problem…"

 **Chapter #008**

" **The Instinctive Nature"**

Queen's Point was a small suburb, not far from Port Charles, and its outlying communities were nestled near a mountain range.

Contained high in the mountain range were two ski lodges that were popular attractions in the winter time, and they were separated by a large lake that had several alcoves where its waters wrapped around a luscious forest.

Nearly 35 years ago, there had been a massive avalanche that had killed several hikers. One of the reported dead was Port Charles' very own Luke Spencer, but luckily that wasn't the case.

It was now springtime in 2017, and the lake was calm and pristine. The skiing season was over and the once snow covered mountain range was warming and the icy conditions were giving way to the change of seasons.

Two beavers made their way along the shoreline of the lake, scurrying about on their morning routine. They were herbivores, but seemed to have craving for Cherry trees, which there were plenty of in the nearby woods.

The two beavers came to a stop and watched with curious charm as the strangest thing began to happen.

Right before them, where the lake water loosely lapped up against a smooth section of sand, a section of the water did not retract back into the flow of the lake. This section of water was nearly six feet wide and defied gravity, because it slowly moved away from the water it separated from, and up the bank of sand which was at the bottom of a small hill. The beavers had never seen anything like it, but didn't know the wiser.

The curiosity of the two rodents, yes beavers were large rodents, was rewarded when this strange moving water came to a stop. It now appeared to be a simple puddle, six feet in diameter.

The beavers, both chewing on tree bark, watched as section of the puddle began to rise, still connected to the puddle, but slowly rising, as if a large bubble was trying to break away. And then the entire puddle began to take shape, and a quite recognizable shape…the shape of a human. And then the puddle was gone, and in its place stood a man, a naked man.

But the beavers didn't scurry away, which they instinctively did whenever they came upon humans.

The human looked about. He had originally taken form in a faraway desert (Issue #2). He had come to this place, this world, in search of his past in order to save a future of death. He had existed now, on this world, for nearly 30 or so sunlight cycles (30 days) and time was running out.

But he correctly sensed that he was getting closer to his past, closer to his origin, closer to _her_.

It was at that moment, from about fifty feet away, that another wild animal came running out of the forest, which rimmed the lake.

It was a deer…innocent in its charm, but clearly it was stressed as it saw the naked man. But then calmness came to deer, feeling no threat from the human at all.

Then, without warning, two human men emerged from the forest. They were wearing clothing that seemed to blend with the colors of the woods (camouflage gear). And, more importantly, they each held what clearly were weapons; rifles and their prey was clearly the deer.

The hunters came to a standstill when they saw, fifty feet beyond the deer they had chased into the open, the naked man…

"Must be some kind of pervert," one of the hunters, his name was Glen, said to his friend Willis.

"Must be from Los Angeles," Willis said with a giggle.

At that moment, the naked man began to walk toward the dear.

"Hey," Willis called out at the naked man, "that deer is ours."

But the naked man kept approaching the deer, though he was still 50 feet away.

And then, Glen aimed his rifle and shot the deer; the loud sound of the rifle's shot echoed loudly all around.

The force of the gun shot hit the deer in the midsection, causing the animal to be thrown to the ground; dead.

The two hunters, Glen and Willis, watched as the naked man had stopped walking toward the now dead animal. And then something strange happen; clothing, including blue jeans and a shirt, as well as shoes and a windbreaker, morphed out of nothing and appeared on the strange man.

"How did he do that?" Willis asked in a totally dumfounded tone.

"Look," Glen said, "the idiot is still walking toward our kill. What's his problem?"

Willis shook his head.

"I don't care if he's a stupid moron," Glen said, "that deer's head is going above my fireplace; c'mon."

The two hunters, still holding their rifles, picked up their pace and in moments they stood on one side of the dead animal, the strange man, with shoulder length black hair, the other.

"Mister," Glen said to the stranger, "maybe you're new to these parts, but this is deer hunting season and that was a clean kill."

The stranger looked at Glen.

"This animal was of no threat to you," the stranger said. "Why did you feel it necessary to kill it? If you wish, I shall show you how to plant crops, if it is hunger driving you to such action."

"I killed it, you weirdo," Glen replied, "not because I was hungry; but because I wanted to. When I get it back to my truck, I'm going to slice the head off, stuff it, and then hang it above my fireplace...do you have a problem with that?"

The stranger looked down at the motionless deer, then back at the two humans.

"I won't let you do that," the Stranger said.

The two men instantly aimed their rifles at him.

"Alright," Willis said, after a chuckle. "We've had enough of your shit, so why don't you just back off before we lose our tempers."

And then, all of a sudden, the two rifles became hot; so hot that the two hunters let the rifles out of their grasps.

But instead of falling to the sand of the beach, the guns just hovered in front of the hunters, and then, they slowly rotated around so that the barrels of the rifles were aiming at their owners, who both gulped in fear at what they were seeing.

"What are you?" Glen asked with fear in his voice, "a demon?"

The Stranger just stared at the two men, then he replied.

"I am not a demon, and," he added with a pause, "I am not your friend."

One of the rifles altered its aim slightly, and then it fired a round. The bullet barely missed Glen's head by mere inches. The two hunters suddenly became silent; worried that their lives were in mortal danger.

"Run," the Stranger said to the two men.

Not needing to be told again, the hunters turned around and ran as fast as they could toward the nearby woods. The Stranger fired another shot as they ran, making his point.

Once the hunters were far from few, the rifles became so hot, the metal of the barrels and the bullets melted into liquid and dripped to the ground and dissolved into the sand.

The Stranger knelt down next to the deer and smiled; it wasn't too late. He brought his hands together above the gaping wound, then rubbed them together.

A strange blue glow of energy began to circle just above the wound, and in mere moments, the wound was gone and the deer opened its eyes and stood back up.

It looked at the human one more time, and then ran off in the opposite direction that hunters had gone.

The two beavers, who had watched the entire ordeal, scurried off into the distance.

As the Stranger began to walk, pain came over him, and he knew why. Being an empath, absorbing the wounds of other lifeforms, had a drawback. The wound would appear on him, but in a diluted form. He knelt down to the sand of the beach and closed his eyes, fighting back the pain. And then, a few minutes later, the gaping wound on his own body faded away.

It was time to continue his mission and to find his mother. So much depended on it…and time was running out.

 **Chapter #009**

 **Deathly Brew**

It was 730AM as Police Commissioner Anna Devane entered her office at police headquarters in downtown Port Charles. In one hand she held a cup of strong coffee, which would be better described as battery acid, which Detective Nathan West had brewed up, and a stack of files in the other. She shuffled over to her desk, hoping she wouldn't trip and spill the coffee, or the clump of files, or both!

After setting everything down on her desk, which was neat and uncluttered for now, a miracle upon itself, Anna settled down into her chair and took a deep breath. But there was no apprehension in her breath because, at least for the moment, the overall feeling she had was restive; at last.

Luckily, for now at least, Port Charles was free of any mob wars. There were no unsolved big name murder mysteries, there were no unruly protestors still angry about the recent Presidential election, and petty theft crimes were at historic low levels.

The city wasn't crimeless, needless to say uniformed officers were still patrolling and detectives were still solving crimes; but for the first time in a long time, the levels were doable.

It was at moment when Detective Dante Falconeri knocked on the opened door to Anna's office.

"Good morning boss," Dante said as he saw Anna sipping at her coffee. "Are you sure you want to drink that stuff? It could be fatal," Dante added mock worry in his voice.

Anna giggled slightly, which pleased Dante. Anna had gone through so much in the past year, it was comforting to see her at ease.

"You know," Anna said as she placed the cup of coffee down, "I hate to say it but I am starting to like Nathan's poison. Next to Robert, he makes the worst coffee on the planet, but…I like it."

Dante nodded his head. He didn't understand it, but…everyone had their quarks.

"Anyway," Dante said, "there's a call for you on line three. Someone claims to have a tip and will only discuss it the police commissioner."

Anna reached for the phone, but before picking up the receiver, she looked up at Dante.

"Do you have tap on the call; just in case?" Anna asked.

Dante nodded his head.

"A tap," Dante replied, "and we're recording it too."

Anna nodded her head, and then Dante left her office and headed back to his desk so he could listen in on the call. It was standard protocol, unless the commissioner requested otherwise, which Anna hadn't.

Anna put the receiver to her right ear, took a sip of Nathan's toxic mix, and then she pressed the blinking line-3 button on the phone.

"Good morning," Anna said, "this is Commissioner Anna Devane; how can I help you?"

There was a slight pause, and then the person on the other end replied.

 _"Hello Anna," the voice said._

The ice cold voice was instantly recognized by Anna, and why not? The man had terrorized Anna's life, as well as many others, including her daughter Robin among them, for decades.

"Faison…" Anna said with an anger tipped but calm voice…

 **Chapter #010**

 **Can Lightning Strike Twice?**

 **Featuring**

 **Tristan Rogers as Robert Scorpio**

 **Lawrence Fishburne as Colonel Anthony Davis**

 **Felicia Jones as Captain Karen Denning**

 **and**

 **William Devane as NSA Director Caleb Reynolds**

 **Previously…issue #6…three weeks ago**

 **CIA HEADQUARETERS in Langley Virginia**

 **UUO Division**

 _ **(**_ _The main duty of the UUO was to explain the occasional malfunction of tech weapons, such as drones and missiles)_

 _Colonel Anthony (played by Lawrence Fishburne) Davis of the US Army hated his current assignment, and why not. Whereas his peers were racking up ribbons for their dress uniforms while fighting the war on terror in the middle- east, he was assigned to a no-nothing division of the CIA._

 _Suddenly Captain Karen Denning rushed in. She was the one person who worked at the UUO who actually had enthusiasm, ever looking for the strange malfunctions and trying to explain and correct them._

 _She then showed him footage from a drone in the middle-east that had been launched at a military target but then veered off course and straight toward a man who was cradling an injured girl in his arms…and then both of them vanished after a blue swirling cloud formation enveloped them._

Our story continues…

Three weeks had passed since and Colonel Anthony Davis and Captain Karen Denning were in a top-secret meeting with the head of the National Security Agency (NSA) at NSA headquarters in Washington DC. His name was Caleb Reynolds, and he had once been in the U. S. military, having risen to the rank of a Vice-Admiral in the Navy.

Both Colonel Davis and Captain Denning waited with baited breath as Mr. Reynolds prepared to give them an update on the footage from the drone that the two of them had reported up the Chain of Command. Up to now, the UUO (Unattributed and Unaccounted Operations) had been the laughing stock of the many CIA divisions, having never really found anything of interest; so both the Colonel and the Captain hoped this footage would shine a brighter light on the UUO.

"Well," Mr. Reynolds began to say, as he looked at the two officers who sat across from him at his desk, "I've had our top people look at the drone's footage and," he paused for effect, "we found no evidence of anything out of the ordinary. Obviously people don't disappear inside of clouds," Reynolds even chuckled a little. "But," he added, noticing the disappointment in their eyes, "thank you for bringing this to our attention."

"I'm sorry if we have wasted your time," Colonel Davis said.

Colonel Davis saw the look of disappointment in Captain Denning's eyes, and felt sorry for her. They thought they had hit the big time, but fell short.

Mr. Reynolds stood up and shook their hands, and then watched as his secretary escorted them out of his office. Once he was alone in again in his office, Mr. Reynolds sat behind his desk and brought the drone's footage back up on his computer screen; waiting for his next appointment to arrive.

Reynolds had seen the footage over and over and over again, and knew there was more to this footage than he could reveal to Colonel Davis and Captain Denning in an upfront manner. But, he was going to try and help the two in a more subtle way; just on the offhand chance that the footage was artificially created. He didn't want to be associated with another crackpot "aliens" or "ghost" conspiracy.

It was then that the door to his office opened again, and this time his secretary escorted just one person in. He was a man whom Mr. Reynolds had known from the past; his name was Robert Scorpio. They both shook hands and sat down at the desk.

"It is good to see you Robert," Mr. Reynolds said, as he opened up his bottom desk drawer and whipped out a bottle of bourbon and poured two shot glasses, handing one of them to Robert.

"It has been too long," Robert agreed, as he downed his glass. "Actually, I was kind of surprised when I received your message via one of the old back-door communication channels. Why the secrecy?"

Reynolds had downed his drink too.

"I'll cut to the chase, Robert," Reynolds, sitting back in his chair, said back to Robert. "I know you visited the Steinmauer Maximum Prison a month ago, and I know why."

Robert set his glass down.

"You saw the footage of what happened in Faison's cell" Robert stated in a matter of fact tone, cutting to the point as well.

Caleb Reynolds nodded his head. He was an old rust bucket meat and potato man, and was no fan of science fiction or fantasy; in fact he despised anything that wasn't grounded in reality. He took a deep breath, and then continued.

"I don't know what that prison cell's camera recorded," Reynolds said, "but…be that as it may; I have an open mind Robert. I want you to see something," Reynolds continued to say as he swiveled his computer's screen to face Robert. "And then tell me what you think…"

Reynolds pressed the play button on his keyboard and played the drone's footage for Robert Scorpio to see. And just as Reynold's predicted, Robert arched his eyebrow in determined curiosity when the man protecting the little girl vanished, and the girl with him. Robert Scorpio was always one to have the perfect come back line as he lifted his shot glass.

"Pour me another…"

 **Chapter #011**

 **Mustache Twirler**

 **Previously…**

Dante Falconeri knocked on the opened door to Anna's office.

"Good morning boss," Dante said as he saw Anna sipping at her coffee. "There is a call for you on line three. Someone claims to have a tip and will only discuss it with the police commissioner."

"Do you have a tap on the call; just in case?" Anna asked.

Dante nodded and then he left her office and headed back to his desk so he could listen in on the call.

"Good morning," Anna said, "this is Commissioner Anna Devane; how can I help you?"

" _Hello… Anna_ ," the voice on the other end said.

The ice cold voice was instantly recognized by Anna

"Faison…" Anna said with soft anger tipped on her calm voice…

 _ **Our story continues…**_

Twenty minutes later, Anna drove her police issued black SUV toward a secluded park located on the outskirts of Port Charles. She was alone in the vehicle, but the voice of Dante Falconeri was talking to her from the police radio on the dashboard.

" _I don't like this Anna," Dante said. "Going alone to meet that psychopath Faison just might rank up there as one of the most dangerous and, to be honest, crazy decisions you've ever made."_

Anna nodded her head.

"He won't try anything," Anna said. "Besides, he probably thinks someone from the PCPD is following me. You are still back at your desk; right Dante?"

Anna already knew the answer, having spotted Dante in his own car, tailing her several cars behind. She had always been an expert at picking out unwanted tails.

" _I know you can see me back here," Dante came back with. "Good to see those expert WSB skills are still alive and kicking."_

"Well," Anna added with a smile, "just don't let Faison see you; at least not yet."

" _Anna; he is fugitive from the law," Dante reminded her. "We should take him down. I still think we should call Robert and get his help on this."_

Anna took a deep breath.

"No," Anna came back with, "I don't want to involve Robert; not yet. Faison claims to have special information that concerns me…and Robin. So I want to hear what he has to say without Robert's temper spooking him."

" _Alright," Dante said after a measurable pause. "I'll go along and play it your way; for now…"_

Anna came upon the park, which was comprised of several pathways that weaved in and out of many varieties of trees. And as for Faison; she could easily seem him sitting alone at one of the park benches; not even bothering to stay out of view.

Moments later, having shut the SUV off, she stepped out of the black vehicle and made her way toward the man sitting at the bench who had been such a negative aspect in her life; going back decades. The air was kind of cold, and mist could still be seen clinging to the trees; fighting off the rising sun

Faison smiled at her as she approached. There were in fact two benches, and they were arranged so that they were facing each other.

"Alright," Anna said, "I'm here…what do you want?"

Faison nodded his head and motioned for her to sit on the other bench facing him. She was going to decline, but did so anyway…anything to get the entire ordeal over.

"Thank you for coming on such a short notice," Faison said with his usual creepy voice; as he looked directly at Anna. "I suppose you would like to arrest me and send me back to that prison."

"Oh, don't worry; I am still considering that option," Anna said back to him in her own cold voice.

"Would it surprise you to know," Faison continued, "that another one of our friends has also arrived, secretly, in a nearby town?" Faison asked.

Anna had no idea what Faison was referring to.

"Tell me,"…

At that moment, in the not so far mountain range located above the small town of Queen's Point, three men made their way out of the forest and toward the quiet shoreline of a lake. Two of the men were hunters who had told a tall tell to the local Sheriff two weeks earlier, and somehow that story gained the interest of the third man. He had come to Queen's Point to hear the story the men had told, but directly from their own mouths; not filtered by the exuberant local reports out to sell papers.

This man was named Frisco Jones…

 **#012**

 **Who Was Casey?**

Faison was sitting on one of two benches located near a cluster of trees. Joggers could be seen in the near distance, the many paths were famous with the exercise crowd; even on slightly cool mornings as this one was.

"Thank you for coming on such a short notice," Faison said with his usual creepy voice; as he looked directly at Anna. "I suppose you would like to arrest me and send me back to that prison."

"Oh, don't worry; I am still considering that option," Anna said back to him in her own cold voice as she sat down on the other bench.

"Would it surprise you to know," Faison continued, "that another one of our friends has also arrived, secretly, at nearby mountain resort?" Faison asked.

( _Faison is referring to Frisco Jones who is at that mountain resort investigating the strange story of the two hunters…Issue #9 "Life Lines")_

Anna had no idea what Faison was referring to.

"No…please indulge me," Anna said skeptically.

Faison shook his head side to side.

"No," he said after a moment, "I'm sure he will be knocking on your door soon enough."

Anna didn't like how Faison could always meander around the point of the matter; he was an expert deflector.

"Faison," Anna said, with a tone of irritation in her voice, "I didn't come here to play one of your silly games. You said on the phone that your information had something to do with Robin and I; what is it?"

Faison took out a vaping cigarette, and activated it.

"You gave up smoking?" Anna asked with a slight laugh. "I used to hope smoking would do away with you since neither Robert, Luke or I ever could."

Faison nodded his head.

"Yes, well," Faison replied with regret in his voice. "These things are nowhere as dashing as the real McCoy, as Americans would say, but," he paused, "it is what it is. Now, as for why we are here in this beautiful park; can you tell me what you were doing twenty-seven years ago; 1990 to be exact."

Anna shook her head side to side.

"What is this?" she asked. "Why ask me a mundane question like that?"

Faison took a drag on his electronic cigarette and asked again.

"Just humor me Anna," Faison said, "what were you doing in 1990?"

Anna didn't want to play along, but usually Faison had a meaning to his chain of thoughts, though sometimes it was loaded with psychopathic reasoning.

"Oh, I don't know," she replied. "I'm sure Robert, Duke and I were dealing with the mob, or probably you and one of your crazy schemes."

Faison nodded his head.

"I'm going to give you a name," Faison said, after a moment. "You tell me what you know about him; Casey Rogers."

Anna had the brief image of a man in her mind, but then it faded and the image of another man, who wore glasses, came into her memories.

"If you referring to Shep Casey," Anna replied, "he was someone I knew briefly back then; why do you ask?"

"So you have no memory of a man named Casey Rogers?" Faison interjected quickly.

"Look," Anna said, becoming impatient Faison, "I don't know what any of this has to do with me, or with Robin, but …"

Faison cut her off, after pressing a small button on the side of his electronic cigarette.

"Anna," Faison said, motioning with his hands for her to stop talking. "You did know a man named Casey Rogers back then, and now it seems you don't." Faison stood up and looked down at Anna who remained seated on the bench, and then he continued. "Contact Scorpio, or Frisco Jones, and see what they have to say about Casey Rogers, if anything. I will make contact with you soon, and believe me, Robin's life depends on you knowing who Casey Rogers is…"

And then, a strange red colored mist appeared around Faison and then…he was gone!

 **#013**

 **Me and Mr. Jones**

 _It had been two weeks since Robert Scorpio had met with the head of the NSA; Caleb Reynolds. They had briefly discussed the strange disappearance of Faison at the prison he was being held at, as well as the strange occurrence of a military drone purposely straying of course and attempting to destroy a civilian in Iraq._

 _Caleb then asked Robert to assist an obscure division at CIA Headquarters. UUO was in charge of investigating strange technical errors, such as the error with the drone, and to see if the defective drone, and Faison's escape, were related…_

 _Our story continues (a few days after Anna's strange meeting with Faison at the park_ )

 **CIA HEADQUARETERS in Langley Virginia**

 **Colonel Anthony (played by Lawrence Fishburne) Davis' office…**

Colonel Davis sat behind his desk. Sitting across from him were Captain Karen (played by Felicia Jones) Denning and Robert Scorpio; special consultant assigned by the NSA.

"It's been two weeks," Col. Davis said to Robert and Captain Karen Denning, "Two weeks since the NSA said our report about the drone attacking that civilian was foolish. But now," but as usual, Captain Karen Denning, with all her excitement, cut him off.

"Now… sir," Denning said with confidence, "we know something is up; thanks to Mr. Scorpio."

Col. Davis and Captain Denning had, at first, been suspicious of Robert when he had been assigned to the project two weeks earlier. But, since that time, they had come to trust him. Robert also conveyed to them that Director Caleb Reynolds couldn't overtly support the effort; but he wouldn't stand in the way either.

Robert, who sipped on a cup of coffee, looked up at the viewing screen on the wall to the side of the desk. To either side of the screen were paintings of Abe Lincoln and Martin Luther King. The footages (the drone attack on the man and video footage of Faison literally vanishing from his cell in prison) were being displayed.

Both footages displayed time-stamp data as well as other tactical information. But the same word, on both footages, was highlighted in red; CHRONO-PARTICLES.

"So let me get this straight," Robert's Australian accented voice said to Captain Denning, "both footages are the original recordings, and these Chrono-Particles were on both. Detected not only via the raw video footage, but via the special sensing methods imbedded into the recording devices as well."

Captain Denning smiled her charming smile at Robert.

"So what does that mean exactly?" Col. Davis interjected.

Captain Denning took a breath and summed it all up for the both men.

"The video recording instruments at the prison," she began to say, "as well as the drone's instrument panels, were both upgrades ordered by unknown parties in the US Government. These upgrades were installed a year or so ago. They were also programmed to look for these Chrono-Particles. In other words…"

Robert cut her off.

"Someone else was looking for these particles," Robert deduced. "And from what my sources have told me at the WSB, the current director, and old acquaintance of mine named Frisco Jones, is the one spearheading the search for them; why?"

"What do we do now?" Captain Denning asked. "If the WSB infiltrated our systems, and the NSA's, then we have to challenge their ability to do this."

Colonel Anthony Davis nodded his head.

"I agree," Colonel Davis said, and then he looked over at Robert. "You use to be the director of the WSB, Robert. Will you have any problem taking them down unless they cooperate with our investigation?"

Robert had a look of trepidation on his face.

"The WSB," Robert began to explained, "is under the purview of the United Nations. The United States, Britain, and other governments, gave the WBS broad authority. So…I suggest, before we stir up the bee hive, we try to negotiate with…the queen; in this case Frisco Jones."

Robert stood up, and prepared to leave.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Col. Davis asked Robert.

Robert thought for a moment.

"Not yet," Robert said with a smile. "Like I said; Frisco Jones and I go back a long time. If I Can't get him to open up," Robert paused and then whistled the first few bars of the Star Spangled Banner, then he continued, "then you can send in the marines…"

Moments later, Robert Scorpio headed out of CIA Headquarters, driving his burgundy colored Tesla. His destination was WSB Headquarters, which was secretly hidden under an abandoned industrial site in New Jersey. As Robert steered his car toward the freeway, his expert super-agent eyesight detected a car tailing him five cars back. He could only wonder who was who was following him…and why.

 **#014**

 **Ripple Across the Mind**

 **Port Charles; Police Headquarters….**

Commissioner Anna Devane, who had an office at the City Administration building, also maintained an office at the PCPD headquarters as well; so as to keep a presence alongside the uniformed officers and the detectives.

She had arrived at work an hour earlier, and observed the morning briefings given by the various department heads. Now, back in her office, she found herself staring out the window in deep thought. Who was Cesar Faison referring to; who was Casey Rogers? Had she known such a man?

The name was causing ripples in her mind, with images just beyond the grasp of recognition. Suddenly there was a knock at her door.

"Come in," Anna said, never taking her glance away from the window, and the view of the docks in the distance.

Detective Dante Falconeri, holding a _Star Wars_ coffee mug, entered and came over to Anna's desk and sat down across from her. It had been a few days since her strange meeting with Cesar Faison, which Dante had monitored from a safe distance. Both Dante and Anna had said very little about that day, and more specifically, Faison's unique departure.

"Anna, it's been a few days now." Dante finally said with a soft voice, "so…what was that? How did Faison just…"

Anna cut Dante off.

"…he wasn't really there," Anna said, though she realized it was a stretch to even suggest.

Dante shook his head, and looked at his coffee mug.

"What are you saying?" Dante asked with a forced chuckle. "Is he a Jedi; and can appear as a ghost?"

Anna shook her head and then scooted away from the window, and brought her chair closer to her desk.

"I don't know, Dante." Anna said after a moment. "But it's either something as silly as that, or some sort of hologram, or…"

"…or," Dante interjected, "he really did vanish before your eyes. You haven't told me yet what the two of you spoke about. Did it have anything to do with Robin at all?"

Again, Anna could only wonder herself.

"All he asked about," Anna finally replied, "was if I remembered a man from the past, 1990 to be exact, named Casey Rogers. And for a brief instant, a memory came into my mind. But then I remembered another acquaintance named Shep Casey and…well…Faison told me that I had known this other person, Casey Rogers. And then Faison decided to….leave…"

The nature of Faison's departure, disappearing inside a red mist, was the strangest part of it all.

Dante thought for a moment.

"Well, 1990 was twenty-seven years ago," Dante came back with. "Who can blame you if you didn't remember brief meetings with people that long ago?" Dante stood up. "Anyway," he added, "I've got some paperwork to do, but if you want to talk about it again," Dante said to his boss, who was also his friend, "I'm here."

And with that, Dante left Anna alone in her office. Anna stared at the phone on her desk and toyed with the thought of calling Robert, and telling him about the meeting with Faison, but decided against it; for now.

She began to log on to her desktop computer when a strange blue glowing light appeared in the far corner of her office. There were no desk lamps in that part of the office, so Anna had no idea where the blue glow was coming from…and then…the most incredible thing happened; a glowing blue mist appeared and then…a man appeared. But the man wasn't Cesar Faison at all.

Anna opened her desk and reached for the gun she kept hidden there just on the off chance something were to happen; and this qualified as something indeed. She was going to pull the weapon out, but didn't. The man, who appeared to be in his mid20s, and who wore gray slacks and a black collared shirt, had a peacefulness to him. And then she thought to herself; who was he?

And then he responded to the questioned she has asked herself.

"I am," the man said with a calmness to his voice, "your…son…"

Anna could only stare back with wonder…and shock too!

 **#015**

 **The Drip of Memory**

Three co-workers (all men in their early 40s) were huddled on the ground together inside a small storage room. On one side of the storage room there were shelves with assorted varieties of potato chips and cookies. On the other side of the storage room there were several types of six and twelve packs of beer. There were also a couple calendars on the dingy walls that displayed buxom women, barely clothed, in various poses; one for each month; Miss May was one of the more buxom.

A man wearing a ski mask over his face watched as his two fellow thugs applied tape over the three unsuspecting workers mouths. He then watched as their wrists were zip tied together.

"Now listen," the masked man said to each of the three captives. "I don't want to kill you," he lifted his shirt, exposing a handgun's handle sticking out the top of his waist, "but I will if I have to. So…" he said with a pause, "don't make any noises and you might actually live through this."

The three nodded at him rapidly.

The place was called Anton's. It was a small convenience store/bar that catered to the locals of Queen Point (a ski resort town located in the distant mountains that could be seen, on a clear day, from Port Charles).

The mask man nodded at the other two, who also wore masks, and then he left the storage room, leaving the other two to stand watch over the hostages.

Making his way down the small corridor that led from the back area of the store to the bar, the man removed his mask to reveal a slight smile. He had no intention of killing anyone, and why would he? His name was Frisco Jones, and he was the director of the W.S.B.

The fake holdup was nothing more than table setting for what was to come next. He looked at the clock on the nearby wall, which was in the shape of a Batman logo, and saw that it was almost time. It was then that he heard the sound of a vehicle pulling up outside; they were here. Frisco looked down at the briefcase on one of the tables, and then sat down next to it. Moments later the door to the bar opened up and two men walked in; their names were Glen and Willis (the two hunters who had a strange encounter with a naked man and a deer).

"Hello friends," Frisco Jones said to the two men as they came inside and approached the table.

Glenn and Willis looked like they could have come straight out of an episode of "The Dukes of Hazard" sat down at the table across from Frisco; their eyes leering at the briefcase, hoping beyond hope there was something valuable inside.

"Pretty cool," Glen said, as he realized no one else was there. "You must be one of them powerful secret agents to close down Anton's and tell all the workers to leave."

"Something like that," Frisco said as he nodded his head. "Now, just as we agreed," Frisco told the both of them, as he clicked open the locks on either side of the briefcase.

Frisco slowly opened the briefcase and turned it around to face the two men; there was indeed money inside; twenty-thousand dollars; in 5s and 1s.

"Ten thousand each," Frisco told the two men. "But remember," Frisco added, "you must never speak again about what you saw that day; with the deer and stranger you encounter."

"Is it real?" Willis asked with a look of lust in his eyes as he looked at the money.

Frisco smiled and nodded his head.

"Go ahead," Frisco added with a smile, "smell it..."

Willis and Glen each picked up one of the stacks of money and did as Frisco suggested they do, and inhaled as deep as they could; just as Frisco knew they would. And then, ten seconds later, both men were out cold as their heads slouched down and rested on the table.

It was then that Frisco reached into his left pant pocket and took out a slender rectangular shaped case and opened it. Inside was an object the size of a pen which he then took out. He removed the upper section that revealed a very…very…very…slender needle.

Frisco stood up and put the needle to the back of Glen's head. On the upper section of the device were numbers. Frisco put his finger on the top of the device and pressed down, all the while watching the numbers fluctuate to where he wanted them to be; and then the slender needle slid inside of the back of Glen's head…penetrating about one inch in. He then did the same thing to Willis. He wasn't killing the two men, but he had injected each of them with a small dose of a drug that would wipe out their memories from the last month, or maybe a little longer.

They would no longer have memories of their encounter with the naked man at the lake, nor would they have the memory of what he had done to the deer. And as for the news story in the local paper? Luckily only 500 people lived in Queens Point, and it was already long forgotten and never really believed anyway.

Frisco wasn't going to leave the twenty-thousand dollars, but he did remove six hundred dollars and put three hundred dollars in each of their pockets; they deserved a little.

And with that, Frisco, and the other two WSB agents from the storage room, left Anton's. Their mission had been accomplished and the incident at the lake had been contained…or was it...

 **#016**

 **The Palm of My Hand**

 **previously...**

 _Now that Anna was alone in her office at PCPD headquarters, she thought about calling Robert (Scorpio), and telling him about the strange meeting she had with Faison, but then she decided against it; for now. (that strange meeting happened in Issue #13 "Who was Casey?"…)_

 _She began to log on to her desktop computer when a strange blue glowing light appeared in the far corner of her office. There were no desk lamps in that part of the office, so Anna had no idea where the blue glow was coming from…and then…the most incredible thing happened; a glowing blue mist appeared and then…a man appeared. But the man wasn't Cesar Faison at all._

 _Anna opened her desk and reached for the gun she kept hidden there just on the off chance something were to happen; and this qualified as something indeed. She was going to pull the weapon out, but didn't. The man, who appeared to be in his mid20s, and who wore gray slacks and a black collared shirt, had a peacefulness to him. And then she thought to herself; who was he?_

 _And then he responded to the questioned she has asked herself._

 _"I am," the man said with a calmness to his voice, "your…son…"_

 _Anna could only stare back with wonder…and shock too!_

 _Our story continues…from where Issue # 14 ended ("Ripple across the Mind")_

"I'm sorry, sir," Anna said to the man who had suddenly appeared in her office, "but I think I would know whether or not I had a son…and I don't have one. Now look," Anna continued, "I'm not sure how you managed to stage a magician's trick like that in my office, but you haven't done anything rash, so I'm willing to just open my door and let you leave peacefully. So, I'm going to…"

Anna began to reach for the door, but the man spoke again, and somehow his voice transcended all rational thought and compelled her to listen…or more to the point…absorb his words into her soul.

"Please listen," the man stated calmly, "I have traveled a great distance to find you. I have been here on your world for a short time, and only recently have my cognizant memories…"

Anna rolled her eyes upon hearing his science-fiction laden words. She wanted to believe him, but she had come to the conclusion that this stranger was delusional and, maybe, even dangerous. Her impulse was to use her Karate training, and attack him before he could do something that might endanger her, but…then she thought about her recent meeting with Faison, and how he had magically disappeared right before her eyes in pretty much the same manner as the stranger had appeared. So, with that in mind, her mind leaped to the most obvious question.

"Was your father," Anna began to say, cutting the stranger off. "A man named Casey Rogers?"

The stranger smiled…he was quite impressed with Anna's question, but he was just as curious as to how she had arrived at it.

"Yes, that was his nomenclature while on your world." the stranger replied. "I have chosen the nomenclature Aaron for myself, though," he added with a naïve nature to his voice, "you can address me as anything you wish…mother."

Anna softly chuckled at his usage of the term nomenclature. She didn't want to laugh, but the entire conversation was bazaar as it was. But before Anna could ask a question, and she had many, Aaron spoke again.

"Can you please tell me what you know of my father?" Aaron asked.

Anna sat down at her desk, wanting to ease the situation, and to have access to the gun in her drawer if need be, and motioned for Aaron to sit down across from her.

"Actually," Anna said, looking directly at him with sympathy, "I don't have any memories of your father at all. And to be honest with you," she added, "I'm not even sure if he existed. So as for me being your," she paused for a brief moment, "mother; I'm pretty sure that isn't really true either. I'd like to know why you think…"

Aaron cut in on her words.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Aaron said, smiling as he spoke, "but how do you know of the name Casey Rogers?"

Anna decided to be honest with Aaron, having concluded in her mind that he wasn't really a threat…he was just confused (as was she!).

"A man," Anna began to explain, "recently asked me about your father as well. But like I told you, I have no memories of anyone name Casey Rogers."

"Who was this man?" Aaron asked, with a slight tone of concern in his voice.

Anna didn't want to answer that question, because she was already being to forthright anyway as it was. She was about to refuse to answer when suddenly Aaron opened his right hand. Somehow, someway, Faison's face was being projected just inches above the palm of Aaron's hand.

"Was this the man?" Aaron asked.

Suddenly….Anna became concerned too…

WASHINTON DC

After his meeting with Colonel Davis and Captain Denning (Issue #14 "Me and Mr. Jones") Robert had decided to drive over to WSB Headquarters in New Jersey to meet up with the current head of the clandestine agency; Frisco Jones.

Because If the WSB had been the ones who had programmed military drones to track the mysterious chrono-particles, Robert wanted to know why.

But as he drove his burgundy Tesla toward the freeway on-ramp that would put him on the road to Jersey, he realized very quickly that a car was following him. He used the special rear view mirror to zoom in on the driver; a woman in her early 30s sat behind the steering wheel, and Robert recognized her immediately; Anna Donely…daughter of Sean Donely!

To be continued…


	19. Chasing Your Own Tail

**Prodigal Son**

" **Chasing Your Own Tail"**

 _As Robert Scorpio drove his burgundy Tesla toward the freeway on-ramp that would put him on the road to Jersey, he realized very quickly that a car was following him. He used the special rear view mirror to zoom in on the driver; a woman in her early 30s sat behind the steering wheel, and Robert recognized her immediately; Anna Donely…daughter of Sean Donely!_

 _Our story continues…_

Robert loved the art of catching his tail, which Anna Donely had become. It would be difficult, but eventually he would.

Anna Donely was Sean's and Tiffany's daughter; named in honor of Anna Devane during the time that most of the world thought both Robert and Anna, as well as Cesar Faison, had died on the psychopath's boat in a fiery explosion in the early 1990s.

Anna Donely would eventually follow in Sean's footsteps and joined the WSB. Although Robert knew Anna Donely, who was twenty-two years old, had a promising career as a spook (spy); her tactical driving skills needed improvement.

Robert made his way off the freeway, and into the business section of a typical suburb setting. After a couple innocent turns, here and there, he was soon tailing the bland sedan Anna was driving, with their eyes eventually caught in a glance when she was directly in front of him at a stop sign. She nodded her head, having been discovered, and pulled over to a nearby curb.

Robert got out of his Tesla and walked over to the young spy as she rolled down her window.

"Hi there, Uncle Robert," Anna said, with a dejected look on her face."

Robert decided to go easy on her.

"Don't get too upset, Luv," Robert said as he leaned down toward the window with a broad smile, "but you've still have a lot to learn," he added with a tone of arrogance.

A cop car with two officers inside drove up alongside where Robert was standing; and the legendary Australian WSB agent turned to face the cops to let them know that nothing was wrong.

The cop on the passenger side smiled up at Robert; and Robert instantly recognized the so called cop…it was none other than his old mentor, and Anna Donely's father; Sean Donely.

"Apparently; you do too," Sean added with a wicked smile as he instantly shot Robert with a tranquilizer gun; causing Robert to collapse to the ground totally knocked out.

Continued…


	20. Hard to Believe

**Prodigal Son**

 **(this story does not take place in the GH 2018 storyline)**

 **"** **Hard To Believe"**

 _Previously…._

 _Robert Scorpio, while driving his burgundy Tesla, realized he was being followed by a WSB Agent Anna Donely. He eventually turned the tables and was soon following her, and she pulled over to the curb of a side street._

 _Robert, getting out of his car, confronted her as she was still sitting in her sedan. But it was actually a trap set for Robert, because a police car pulled up alongside Anna's car and Scorpio was surprised to see none other than Sean Donely sitting in the cop car and who then shot Robert with a tranquilizer dart…_

 _Our story continues…_

 **WSB Headquarters underneath an abandoned industrial site in New Jersey…an hour later**

The effects of the dart were temporary, and Robert was soon in Sean Donely's office. Sean was sitting behind his desk, and Robert sat across from him.

"What is this all about, Sean?" Robert asked, with a tone of anger in his voice. "Why did you and Anna (Donely) play me like that?"

Sean looked apologetically at his longtime friend and former protégé.

"Robert," Sean began with, "I'm sorry it had to go down like that, but you left me no other choice. You've been digging around in things you shouldn't have, so I had to step in."

Robert arched an eyebrow; and began connecting the dots.

"Faison's vanishing act at Steinmauer Maximum," Robert said as he snapped his fingers, "and this investigation that I'm involved with concerning Chrono Particles. You do realize that a division of the CIA is delving into this Chrono Particle matter as well."

Sean nodded his head.

"To be honest," Sean said, after a moment, "we didn't think they'd get that far. But once you were attached, I knew I had to do something."

And then Robert slammed both his hands down on Sean's desk.

"Now you listen to me!" Robert said, as he stood up. His Australian accent always became thicker when he was angry. "That lunatic vanished into thin air; I saw the video footage with my own two eyes. He's gone after Anna and Robin in the past, and I won't let him terrorize them again."

Sean nodded his head. He also realized that Robert had a right to be angry because it certainly seemed there was no prison in the world that could contain Cesar Faison.

"Robert," Sean said, looking up at him, "please sit down and hear me out. There is more going on here than Faison escaping prison."

Robert took a deep breath, and then sat back down.

"Alright," Robert finally said, "but I want the truth Sean. What the hell is going on? How did Faison escape into thin air, and what are Chrono Particles?"

Sean took a deep breath, knowing it would be a difficult explanation.

"I'm going to tell you a story," Sean began, "and please; no questions until I'm done, because trust me, pal, you won't believe a word of it."

Robert smiled at his friend.

"Try me…" Robert replied.

Sean nodded his head and told the tale; ( _which, by the way, was an actual plot on General Hospital way back in 1990_ )

" _Many years ago, an alien being from outer space came to Port Charles and took the form of an ordinary man. And then he befriended, of all people," Sean said with a pause, "Robin, and eventually, Anna. To make a long story short, this alien, who we called Casey, was trying to find the crystal power source that could send him back home to his planet; but Cesar Faison was after the crystal as well, because of its possible use as a weapon. We stopped Faison, and helped send Casey home."_

Robert at first had no reaction, but then he smiled at his friend.

"Sean," Robert finally said, "I think you better put yourself in for a psychological evaluation. What kind of fool do you think I am to believe in such a foolish story like that?"

But Sean pressed on.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me. But hear me out; the Chrono Particles you are investigating," Sean continued, "are not only the residual energy left by the use of that crystal power source I spoke of, but are also the biological markings of beings like Casey. Now," Sean said, pausing for a moment, "those markings were found in Faison's cell at the prison, and, emanating from the man who was trying to save the little girl in Iraq."

Robert's grin began to from his face, and he had also reviewed in his mind what Sean had said a moment ago.

"You said a moment ago that _we_ had stopped Faison back then," Robert came back with. "What did you mean by that?"

It was Sean's turn to smile back at Robert.

"Who were we?" Sean asked. "There was you, me, Anna, Frisco, Felicia and Robin, among others."

Robert's expression became serious, and he wasn't sure he was going to like the answer to his next question.

"If what you say is true," Robert's voice had a slight tone of accusation to it, "why don't I remember any of it?"

And as Robert looked at Sean's silent reaction, he saw the answer in his old friend's eyes; The WSB.

 **Continued…**

 **This issue featured**

 **John Reilly as Sean Donely and**

 **Tristan Rogers as Robert Scorpio**


	21. Forget Me Not

**Prodigal Son**

 **Forget Me Not**

 **previously...**

 _"I don't mean to interrupt," Aaron said, smiling as he spoke, "but how do you know of the name Casey Rogers?"_

 _Anna decided to be honest with Aaron, having concluded in her mind that he wasn't really a threat…he was just confused (as was she!)._

 _"A man (Cesar Faison)," Anna began to explain, "recently asked me about your father as well. But like I told you, and as I told him, I have no memories of anyone name Casey Rogers."_

 _"Who was this man asking you about Casey Rogers?" Aaron asked, with a slight tone of concern in his voice._

 _Anna didn't want to answer that question, because she was already being too forthright anyway as it was. She was about to refuse to answer when suddenly Aaron opened his right hand. Somehow, someway, Faison's face was being projected just inches above the palm of Aaron's hand._

 _"Was this the man?" Aaron asked._

 _Suddenly….Anna became concerned too…_

 _Our story continues…_

Anna's face became very intense, as it usually did when she discussed anything to do with Cesar Faison.

 _(readers; in this story Anna never AND WOULD NEVER have slept with Faison and created a son…no way)_

"His name is Cesar Faison," Anna began to explain. "For over three decades he has tormented my family, as well as many others. And recently he has come back into my life after once again escaping prison, and," Anna said, as she looked at Aaron, "with his and your interest in this man I have no memories of ever meeting (Casey Rogers), I'm starting to think something really strange is happening here."

Aaron walked over to Anna.

"Does your species have frequent memory lapses?" Aaron asked.

Anna shook her head side to side.

"Normally, no," Anna told him. "However, as we reach advanced ages, memory loss does happen. But no," Anna added, "not at my age. But," Anna added with a sharper tone in her voice, " _ **if**_ my memory has been tampered with, and it has happened in the past, it was done either by that man, Cesar Faison; or perhaps, someone with the same skill set."

Aaron smiled at Anna.

"Perhaps your memories can be hidden," Aaron said, with a calm voice, "but not eliminated. I," Aaron added as he reached out right his hand and brought it level with the left side of her head, "can find them for you; if you so wish."

Anna looked into Aaron's eyes, and already her heart was telling her what her mind refused to believe; he was her son. But she did not want to admit to him her feelings yet; first she wanted her memories back. And, as she had to remind herself; this stranger claiming to be her son could be totally out of his mind!

"Yes," Anna said, closing her eyes, "help me remember…"

Continued…

 **This issue featured**

 **Fiona Hughes as Anna Devane and**

 **Henry Cavell as Aaron**


	22. Heart and Soul

**Prodigal Son**

 **Heart and Soul**

 **previously...**

 **Inside Anna's office at the Port Charles police department…**

 _"I don't mean be abrupt," Aaron said, smiling as he spoke, "but would you like me to help you remember my father; Casey Rogers?"_

 _Anna looked into Aaron's eyes, and already her heart was telling her what her mind refused to believe; he was her son. But she did not want to admit to him her feelings yet; first she wanted her memories back. And, as she had to remind herself; this stranger claiming to be her son could be totally out of his mind! But then she thought "oh what the hell…_

 _"Yes," Anna said, closing her eyes, "help me remember…"_

 _Our story continues…_

Aaron reached out and placed his left hand on the right side of Anna's soft face, never breaking his eye to eye contact with her.

"This will not feel uncomfortable," Aaron assured her, "nor will I pry into the private memories you wish to keep from me. While I am retrieving memories of my father, you will feel lightheaded; but there will be no lasting effects."

Anna nodded her head slowly.

"I understand," Anna told him.

Aaron smiled.

"Go ahead and close your eyes…"

THE FOLLOWING ARE ACTUAL SCENES SHOWN ON GENERAL HOSPITAL

 _{{{{{{{{{ the moment Anna had closed her eyes, she opened them and found herself inside a memory of great sorrow._

 _She looked down and saw that Jonathan Padgett was being cradled in her lap; having just died in her arms from a mortal gunshot._

 _At this time, in her past, Anna had just found out that Padgett was really Duke Lavery. But in the present time, Anna now knew that this was not the case._

 _But what did this have to do with Casey Rogers?_

 _Suddenly her memory phased to another series of images that were not her memories. A bright ball of light descended from the sky, pulsating with intense colors that streamed out in different directions. She could tell this was happening in the backyard of the home she had lived at in the late 1980s, when Robin was still a young girl._

 _The ball of light came to stop, floating about 6 feet above the ground when all of sudden there was a bright flash; she even heard a clap of thunder…followed by a large bellowing of what seemed to be steam and smoke from where the ball had been hovering._

 _And then, as the steam or smoke slowly faded away, a naked man was standing where the ball of light had been seconds before._

 _It was him…the man she could not remember from photos she had been shown; Casey Rogers}}}}}}}}}_

Anna opened her eyes, and looked at Casey.

"Why…" Anna asked Aaron.

Aaron knew what she was asking; why did he take her back to the sad memory of Padgett dying in her arms.

"My father arrived in your life and a time when you and your daughter had just experienced the sorrow of losing someone close to the both of you," Aaron explained.

"But that man, Padgett," Anna countered, "turned out to be a total stranger; not Duke at all," Anna said with a slight tone of anger.

Aaron nodded his head.

"But at that moment in time, when my father came into your life; in your heart…you had just lost someone you really loved. Time cannot replace the context of how your soul relives the past through your memories."

A tear came down from Anna's right eye. Aaron was right; for even though she now knew that Padgett was never really Duke at all, at that time she did believe he was Duke.

"I understand now," Anna said with a near whisper. "My heart applies the context to my memories."

Aaron nodded his head.

Anna wiped her tear with her finger, and then closed her eyes to continue remember Casey Rogers….

 **Continued….**

 **This Issue Featured;**

 **Finola Hughes as Anna Devane**

 **Henry Cavell as Aaron**

 **and Greg Beecroft as Jonathan Padget**


	23. Heart and Soul Reprise

**(forward; If you are just reading this story for the first time, you should really go back to the start. This is a unique General Hospital fanfiction in that it goes back to one of GH's so called darkest hours; the storyline about a visitor from outer-space. Yes..GH really did this. But even now, years later, some of the performers from that time (Tristan Rogers and Jack Wagner) liked it for trying to be different.**

 **I am treating the subject matter in a serious and, hopefully, realistic sequel that brings back the character of Casey Rogers' history, and more importantly, his son with Anna...love can come in many shapes and forms as we all know...and Anna Devane found this to be true)**

 **Prodigal Son**

 **Heart and Soul**

 **previously...**

 **Inside Anna's office at the Port Charles police department…**

 _"I don't mean be abrupt," Aaron said, smiling as he spoke, "but would you like me to help you remember my father; Casey Rogers?"_

 _Anna looked into Aaron's eyes, and already her heart was telling her what her mind refused to believe; he was her son._

 _But she did not want to admit her feelings yet; first she wanted her memories back. And, as she had to remind herself; this stranger claiming to be her son could be totally out of his mind! But then she thought "oh what the hell…_

 _"Yes," Anna said, closing her eyes, "help me remember…"_

 _Our story continues…_

Aaron reached out and placed his left hand on the right side of Anna's soft face, never breaking his eye to eye contact with her.

"This will not feel uncomfortable," Aaron assured her, "nor will I pry into the private memories you wish to keep from me. While I am retrieving memories of my father, you will feel lightheaded; but there will be no lasting effects."

Anna nodded her head slowly.

"I understand," Anna told him.

Aaron smiled.

"Go ahead and close your eyes…"

THE FOLLOWING ARE ACTUAL SCENES SHOWN ON GENERAL HOSPITAL

 _{{{{{{{{{the moment Anna had closed her eyes, she opened them and found herself inside a memory of great sorrow._

 _She looked down and saw that Jonathan Padgett was being cradled in her lap; having just died in her arms from a mortal gunshot._

 _At this time, in her past, Anna had just found out that Padgett was really Duke Lavery. But in the present time, Anna now knew that this was not the case._

 _But what did this have to do with Casey Rogers?_

 _Suddenly her memory phased to another series of images that were not her memories. A bright ball of light descended from the sky, pulsating with intense colors that streamed out in different directions. She could tell this was happening in the backyard of the home she had lived at in the late 1980s, when Robin was still a young girl._

 _The ball of light came to stop, floating about 6 feet above the ground when all of sudden there was a bright flash; she even heard a clap of thunder…followed by a large bellowing of what seemed to be steam and smoke from where the ball had been hovering._

 _And then, as the steam or smoke slowly faded away, a naked man was standing where the ball of light had been seconds before._

 _It was him…the man she could not remember from photos she had been shown; Casey Rogers}}}}}}}}}_

Anna opened her eyes, and looked at Casey.

"Why…" Anna asked Aaron.

Aaron knew what she was asking; why did he take her back to the sad memory of Padgett dying in her arms.

"My father arrived in your life and a time when you and your daughter had just experienced the sorrow of losing someone close to the both of you," Aaron explained.

"But that man, Padgett," Anna countered, "turned out to be a total stranger; not Duke at all," Anna said with a slight tone of anger.

Aaron nodded his head.

"But at that moment in time, when my father came into your life; in your heart…you had just lost someone you really loved. Time cannot replace the context of how your soul relives the past through your memories."

A tear came down from Anna's right eye. Aaron was right; for even though she now knew that Padgett was never really Duke at all, at that time she did believe he was Duke.

"I understand now," Anna said with a near whisper. "My heart applies the context to my memories."

Aaron nodded his head.

Anna wiped her tear with her finger, and then closed her eyes to continue remember Casey Rogers….

 **Continued….**

 **This Issue Featured;**

 **Finola Hughes as Anna Devane**

 **Henry Cavell as Aaron**

 **and Greg Beecroft as Jonathan Padget**


End file.
